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RANDOM 



«MnMHMNHMBMMK»w 

1. 



RECOLLECTIONS, 



BY 



HENRY B. STANTON 




JOHNSTOWN, N. 

HIATNCK & LEANING, WINTERS. 

1885. 



KTitcifd iiffordinu' to ;ut of Congress, in llic A'ear IWf). Dy MKNKY 
Stanton, in the office of the Lii)riiriMn of C'ouiiTcss. :ir 



Wasliiuiitoii. I). ('. 



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EANDOM 






RECOLLECTIONS, 



BY HENRY B. STANTON. 



COPYRIGHT SECURED. 



JOHKSTOWN, K Y.: 

la.VNCK & LKAN1>-G, PRINTERS. 









25 MA°v 1907 



PREFACE. 



The following pages have been the work of the leisure hours 
of the past six weeks. They were prepared at the request of 
relatives and friends. The materials are drawn from memory, 
and perhaps are not the best selections from a large stock of 
the same kind. As I am near the close of my eightieth year, 
I have paid little attention to mere style. A copyright will be 
secured, and a few numbers printed for private circulation, but 
there will be none for sale. 

H. B. S. 

New York, March, 1885. 



# 



Random Recollections. 



MY BIRTH PLACE. 

I was bom on June 27tli, ISUo, on the margin of the river 
Pacliang in the part of Preston, which, in 1815, became Griswold, 
county of I^ew London, Connecticut. I dwelt in tlic little hamlet 
of Pachaug till 1814 when ni^^ father removed to Jewett City in 
the same township, a pretty village, situated just where the 
Pachaug empties its pellucid waters into the more stately Quinne- 
baug, on whose banks I 'lived till the spring of 182G. These two 
beautiful streams How lovino-lv aloni>: to2;ether some live miles 
southwesterly, till the Shotucket, which had already captured the 
Williniantic, pouring down from the north, regardless of the laws 
against polygamy, marries them all, gives them its own name, and 
leads them a rippling dance to Norwich. Here the Yantic having 
previously taken in small rivulets in the northwest, tumbles heed- 
lessly over fiiutastic rocks, and joins the Shetucket. These five 
rivers and their accessaries, after workino; their wav toward the sea 
by turning the wheels of hundreds of factories, form the Thames in 
front of Norwich, and it marches off with its Indian tributaries 
in lordly style as becomes its English name. After greeting Fort 
Griswold and New London, the Thames falls into Long Island Sound 
just below the Pequod House and never comes to the surface again. 

MY ANCESTRY. 

My father was Joseph Stanton. He was bora in "Washington 
county, R. I., on the shores of the Atlantic, whence he went in his 
early days to Preston, Conn., to begin a mercantile career. He 
had a distinguished ancestry. His father was for a short time an 
officer in the Kevolutionary War under his eldest brother, who was 
a young lieutenant in the army that conquered Canada from France 
in 1759, and subsequently a Colonel in the Revolution, and a Sen- 
ator and Representative in Congress from Rhode Island for many 



years. Another of the ancestral line was an officer in the forces 
that wrested Louisburi^ from the French in 17-45, tlieir stronghold 
in North America. From my father this line is traced directly np- 
waf-d throni;h five generations to Thomas Stanton, who was born 
in England in 1615, and came to New England in WS^. He was 
learned for those days, became famous as a negotiator with the In- 
dians, whose dialects he thoroughly mastered; was appointed by the 
Conr.r.issioners of the United Colonies Indian Interpreter General 
for New England; was a Judge of the New London County Court, 
and de[>uty tor ten years to the General Court. He died in 1G77. 

My mother was Susan Brewster, born in Preston. Her father 
was Simon Brewster, who died in Griswold, August 10th, 1S41, 
ao-ed 90 vears, 3 months and 15 days. He was a wealthy farmer 
and in due time a magistrate. He was one of the defendei's of Fort 
Griswold, when it was stormed by Benedict Arnold. The line of 
the Brewsters goes straight upward from my mother to William 
Brewster, wlio was born at Scrooby, England, in 1566; was edu- 
cated at Caml)ridge, entered the diplomatic service, was imprisoned 
at Boston a long time for non-conformity, and came to America by 
the \vay ui' Iluliand in the Mayflower and landed on Plymouth 
Rock, December 22d, 1620. Here he ministered as the ecclesiasti- 
cal head of the Pilgrim Colony till his death on April 16th, IGil, 
aged 78. lie is a prominent figure in the picture of the embarka- 
tion of the Pilgrims which hangs in the rotunda of the Capitol at 
Washingt<»n. 

Thus my [)aternal line goes back in this country 250 years, and 
luv maternal line 265 years, which I tliink entitles me to call my- 
self a native liorn American. 

My parents were married at Padiaug un January 25th, 1803. 

My father was an enterpriaing country merchant, a shipper of 
truods to and Iron, the West Indies, and a woolen manufacturer. 
He was a political leader of the Jeflcrson school, thoroughly yersed 
ill militury matters, courtly in mannerii, iind of indomitable courage, 
lie died at New York in 1S27. My mother was of the Puritan 
stock, intelligent, high-spirited and tender-hearted. She died at 
Rochester, N. Y., in 1S53. 

Mv father and mother had four sons and two dauirhters. AH 
have i>assed within the vail except me and Rev. Hubert Lodewick 
Stanton. D. D., who was born at Preston, on March 2Sth, ISIO. 
He was educated at Lane Seminaiy, has been pastor at New Or- 
leans, President of Oakland College, Miss., and of Miami, Ky., Uni- 



versitj, Ohio, Professor in Danville Theological Seminary, Mode^ 
rator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, and Government Vis- 
itor at West Point. 

I ^vill mention a few things in my native county. 

INDIANS. 

In early times tliree great tribes clustered in New London Coun- 
ty, viz : the Pequods, the Mohicans and a l)ranch ot the Narragan- 
setts. In my youth .[.lite a body of Mohicans dwelt near my 
home, while a liberal sprinkling of Nari-agansetts, and a bare trace 
of Pequods remained. 

In 1G3T, the Pequods had a palisade fortress at Mystic, six miles 
from Pachaug. Warlike and cruel, they had long been the 
scourge of Connecticut, and it was resolved to exterminate them. 
Their Sachem was the bloody Sassacus. The hypocrital Tncas was 
the chief of the Mohicans. '"ITncas Rock" is still a tamous land- 
mark, overlooking the Yantic Falls, near Norwich. The chief of 
the Narragansetts was the generous Miantonomoh, one of the no- 
blest and most unfortunate of his race. lie was the nephew ot the 
great Canonicus, the Sachem who saved the Plymouth pilgrims 
from destruction, and succored Roger Williams when he was ban- 
ished from Massachusetts. 

EXTERMINATION OF PEQUODS. 

In :^[ay, 1637, Captain John Mason with ninety white soldiers, 
TO Mohicans under the lead of Uncas, and several hundred Narra- 
gansetts, commanded by Miantonomoh, attacked the Pequods at 
dead of night in their stronghold at Mystic. The battle was des- 
perate. It became a massacre. The assailants set fire to the birch 
bark wigwams within the palisades. The swamp was soon a lake 
of flame, devouring men, squaws and papooses, while those who at- 
tempted to flee were shot or pierced with arrows. A few escaped 
and never rested foot till they reached the Mohawk beyond Albany. 
A handful received quarter from the gentle Miantonomoh. It was 
the end of the once poN^^erful Pequods. 

And now for the sad fate of Miantonomoh. In 1<U;3 he was 
attacked by Uncas. Their tribes had a flerce struggle on Sachenrs 
Plain, just west of Norwich. Miantonomoh was defeated. Heart- 
less white Commissioners delivered him into the hands of Uncas, 
who took his victim to the fleld where the day had gone against 
him, and near the "Uncas Rock," he cut from the shoulder of the 



8 

unflinching Miantonomoh a slice of flesh, broiled it before his e^^es, 
devoured it aiid said, "it is the sweetest meat I ever ate." He then 
dispatched the fallen Sachem with his own tomahawk. In 1844, 
two hundred years after this barbarous deed, Connecticut rendered 
tardy homage to the intrepid Miantonomoh by erecting a monu- 
ment to his memory at the spot where he met his cruel death. 

In the last century a dirge was composed to the memory of Mian- 
tonomoh, and set to a plaintive melody. In my childhood we had 
a negro slave whose voice was attuned to the sweetest cadence. 
Many a time did she lull me to slumber by singing this touching 
lament. It sunk deep into m3^ breast and moulded my advancing 
years. Before I reached manhood, I resolved that I would be- 
come the cham]>ion of the oppressed colored races of my countr}-. 
I have kept my vow. 

BENEDICT ARNOLD— THE TRAITOR. 

Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich in 1740. In my youth I 
often passed the house where he flrst saw the light, and once ven- 
tured timidly within. It cowered among gloomy trees away from 
the street as if ashamed to face the sunshine. Arnold having failed 
to deliver West Point to the British, they fltted out an expedition 
under his command to Eastern Connecticut in the fall of 1781. He 
burned New London, and expressed malignant regrets that he could 
not lay his native town in ashes. He attacked Fort Griswold on 
Gorton Heights and massacred a large portion of the garrison. 
Colonel William Ledyard, the intrepid commander, the brother of 
the famous traveller, was thrust through with his own sword after 
he had surrendered. The wounded were thrown into carts, which, 
by their own Aveight, plunged with their writhing freight, furiously 
down the rocky declivity toward the Thames. A shapely monu- 
ment now crowns the Heights. On marble tablets at its base are 
engraved the names ol the one hundred and more who were slain 
on that bloody day. Among them are three or four Stantons. My 
grandfather Brewster participated in this deadly aflray, but came 
out uninjured. I scarcely need add that the people of my county 
were taught to detest the cowardly catiff, B,enedict Arnold. 

THE WAR OE 1812-1815. 

As New London was rather a fighting County, I will dispose of 
the war of 1812-15 before touching on a few topics that occurred ear- 
lier. In 1813 Commodore Stej)hen Decatur, the lion of our Navy, 
undertook to go to sea with his fleet through the eastern end of 



d 

Long Island Sound. Commodore Hardy who had been the Cap- 
tain of Nelson's flag ship at Trafalagar, where the great Admiral 
fell, ehased Decatur into New London with a superior force. Well 
do I remember the prodigious sensation this caused in the rural 
fowns. Hardy blockaded Decatur's fleet more than a year, ravag- 
ing the coast by incursions on shore at safe points, frightening the 
women with the thunder of his guns, and keeping the militia of 
the County constantly on the alert. The division of my father was 
at the front nearly half the time. As became a staunch Madieonian 
he was busy drilling the militia for home consumjjtion in raising 
volunteers to go to Canada, and in manufacturing songs adapted to 
the exigency. I recall scores of these doggerel verses. One gory 
ballad rag out, 

"Brave boys, don't lie afraid or skittish, 
But go and learn to tight the British!" 

The aforesaid "boys" were told not to dread the lied Coats, for 

"If you'll boil a lol)ster in a stew. 

He'll look as red and gay as they do." , 

On a sunny day in September, 1814, I went to Mrs. Ephraim 
Tucker's, a couple of miles from home, to play. Her husband, a 
lieutenant in my father's command, was at the seaside. Soon we 
heard the boom of Hardy's guns, floating up from Stonington 
Point. Mrs. Tucker and I were seated on the door steps. An in- 
fant lay in her lap. Boom I boom ! boom ! went the cannon for 
hours. Tears stole down her ashen cheeks, and she shook like an 
aspen leaf. I was nine years old. In my boyish way I tried to 
comfort her by telling her that my father would see to it that Mr. 
Tucker was not hurt. The attack at Stonino;ton was a flasco. 
Hardy's flring was feeble and wild. 

In the Fremont campaign of L^5(), I went to Norwich to address 
a mass mcetin":. It occurred to me to rnu out to Pochauti', which 
I had not visited for a long, long period. I seated myself on the 
doorsteps of the Tucker house, now occupied l)y strangers. My eye 
rested on the cemcter}^ which crowned the neighboring hill where 
lay in dread repose the generation I had known in my youth. I 
mused deeply on the events that had transpired in my life in the 42 
years that had passed since I sat there before. Such thoughts and 
scenes rarely come to us except in the visions of the night. 

COMMODORE O. H. PERRY. 

At the close of the war I visited relatives of the name of Ha- 
zard, at Westerly, R. I , near the old Stanton homestead. Commo- 



10 

dore Oliver Hazard Ferry was born in that county. One day tlie 
hero at the battle of Lake Eric suddenly dropped in at the Ha- 
zard's. His visit elicited a burst ot enthusiasm. His dashing man- 
ner:! and brilliant uniform filled me with visions ot naval glory, and 
I wanted him to take me to sea. He bore a striking resemblance 
to the portraits and statues of liim wliic-h I saw in i-ipcr years. 

I lonored to see the ocean and hear the beating of its great heart. 
My father took me to Watch Hill near the moutli of Pawkatuc Riv- 
er. We arrived late in the evening. The sky was clear, the wind 
was brisk, the full moon was playing on the waves. I did not 
sleep a wink. All night 1 sat at the window and gazed at the 
whitecaps of the billows or lay on the bed listening to the roar of 
the breakers. 

"Time writes no wrinkles on thine azure brow; 
Such as Creation's dawn beheld thou rollest now." 

BITTER POLITICS. 

The politics of this epoch was extremelj^ bitter. I have witncsed 
three such eras: the Madisonian in Connecticut, the Anti-Masonic 
in Western New York, and the persecution of the Abolitionists eve- 
rywhere ; and I hardly know which was the most acrimonious. 
Leaving the two latter to take their turn, I will say a lew words 
about the first. 

In Madisonian days school-boys pulled hair, and grown men 
drew swords. I took a hand in the first mentioned pastime, under- 
standing just about as much of the merits of the scrimmage as the 
mass of voters do now-a-davs in Presidential contests. As to deadly 
weapons, I saw my father, in 1S12 or 1S13, drive out of his grounds 
at Pachaug, sword in hand, a whole compau}' of Federalist Militia, 
who had come there to insult him. The lawsuit which followed 
cost him a round sum. Smaller fights were often ludicrous. The 
standing menace of one old Federalist, when heavily loaded with 
cider brandy, was: "I will not say that every Democrat is a horse 
thief, but I do say that every horse thief is a Democrat."' A sturdy 
Democrat, who had smelt ))owderat the seaside, taught me to stand 
on a chair and say, that "Tlie Hartford Convention was hatched in 
the purlieus of hell I'' What jun-lious meant and what the Hartford 
Convention was, 1 did imt kiidw, and 1 })resumc the most of my 
adnuring auditors were iti the same ])redicament. Al"tcr much 
delay a new Democratic Journal came to town. Its motto M-as 
from Shakespeare's Henry VIII., "Ik just iiiid fear not." The 



11 

Editor named liis author. A warm Madisonian wiped liis specta- 
cles. His eyes fell on the motto. He read it straight through 
M'ithout a pause, "i>e just and fear not Shakespeare." Lifting his 
list he exclaimed, 'TU let 'em know I don't fear Shakespeare or 
any other Federalist." All through Connecticut, those turbulent 
years inflamed partisans rent familie.-, churches and neighborhoods 
asunder. Vituperation furnished the staple of political discussion. 

THE BLUE LAWS. 

It will 1)0 remembered that the Congi-egationalists, or ^'Thc 
Standing Oi-der," as they were called, had long been the established 
church of Connecticut. In ISIS portions of the Federalists of 
other denominations united with the Democrats and defeated the 
Federal party, electing Oliver Wolcott tor Governor over John 
Cotton Smitii. The last trace of the Blue Law dynasty soon dis- 
appeared. It was one of the bitterest political contiicts I ever saw. 
A version of the constitution ])l;iced all sects on a basis of political 
equality. 

OUR MEETING HOUSE. 

Our Congregational house of worship stood vn a lawn, surrounded 
by oaks, on the banks of the Pachaug. It was constructed of wood, 
according to the severest order of Puritan architecture, large, 
square, with two stories of gl.irlng windows on four sides, the pulpit 
a perch, the galleries ample, the pews boxes, except the negro J3ew 
which was a pen near the ceiling Opposite the front entrance was 
the whipping post, near by were the stocks, while on a distant hill 
grinned the skeleton ot a gallows. In my childhood, I saw a wretch 
scour^^-ed at the post, a drunkard writhing in the stocks, and a ne- 
gro executed on the gallows. These exhibitions have sufKced me 
for a lifetime. 

For years we had no fires in the Church in the winter, and we 
worshipped God and shivered over the Westminster catechism till 
finally the con^reo'ation came to the conclusion that freezing was 

_ , 'TIT 

not a means of grace, and two huge stoves were brought m. We 
had fine sinoincr, but no musical instrument except the chorister's 
pitchpipe. Ere I left Griswold I saw the gallery desecrated by a 
bass viol and a flute. We had no clock wherewith to time the ser- 
mon, though the minister had an hour glass in the pulpit. One of 
the early clergymen oi Pachaug used to pray 60 minutes by the 
glass. Now I am on time-pieces I will add, that 1 doubt if when I 
w^as born there were five gold watches in the county. How 



12 

cliai)<rc(l I J II thi:^ [)rogre.ssivc age, cverv l)(»y claiiiis utiu as soon as 
h(3 lias learned to swear. Silver Swiss watches were coiiiiuuii: the 
poor resorted to sun dials, and the affluent had eight day clocks in 
their ]iarlors, counting the passing hours with owMike gravity. 
The pitchpipc reminds me that I recollect seeing only two pianos 
in my county, though harps and harpsichords were not infrequent, 
and there was a surfeit of drums, tifes, fiddles and trumpets as 
Ijetitted a martial peoi)le. 

TIIIi CLP.RGY. 

There was I'are stability in the Ecclesiastical affairs of i*achai;g. 
Three Coniireu'ational ministers were settled there in unbroken sue- 
cession from 1720 lo 1830, a period of 110 years, \\z. : Hezekiah 
Lord, Le\'i Hart and Horatio Waldo. Dr. Hart was the son-in- 
law of the famous Dy. Bellamy, the rival of Jonathan Edwards, 
and he was the friend of the celebrated Dr IIo])kins the flounder of 
the Hopkiiisan sect. Drs. Bellamy and Hopkins often preached in 
Pachaug. Dv. Hart died in ( )ctubcr, 1808, an event I remember 
as if it had happened yesterday. His venerable form, arrayed in 
tlie clerical costume of the revolution, rises before me as I write 
this line. This fact is perhaps worthy of notice as showing that oc- 
togenarians may distinctly recall things that occurred when they 
were three 3'ears old. 

A few ])assing words about other cleric;il celebrities. The echo 
of Whitfield's fame lingered among niy nati\"e hills. My grand- 
mother toal me of the mellow accents of his voice, now soft as a 
flute, anon swelling like a bugle, of hisdnunatic gestures and thrill- 
ing appeals, which swayed great audiences as if swe^t by the wings 
of the tempest, and how he rode at full gallop from town to town 
to meet engagements, the skirts of his silk gown streaming behind 
on the wind. Controversies about his "measures" were alive even 
in my day. I have bent reverently over the sepulchre of the peer- 
less preacher in ^■ewburyport. The Baptists were occasionally rep- 
resented in oui- town by their two great lights, the llev. Silas and 
Hoswell Burroughs, of Stonington. Rev. Ami Rodgers, a flowery 
speaker, built a stone church for tlu' Episcopalians at Jewett Cit}-, 
The strangest and widest known of all was Lorenzo Dow, a Metho- 
dist wild ti'avelled the world o\cr, and li\i'(l near Ciriswold where 
he often preached and nlw.iys drew crowds. He looked like Joe 
Jeflerson in \i\\> \:in Winkle, liis sermons were sharply anti-Cal- 
vanistic, and his illustrations the quaintest imaginable, while his 
manners overstepped all ordinary bounds. When discoursing, he 



13 

bestrode the pulpit, stood on the stairs or walked through the aisles. 
One characteristic anecdote must sutlice. It was in the heiizht of 
the summer solstice. An aged matron occupic!:! a conspicuous seat. 
She wore a tall cap with a wide limpsey border which rose and fell 
under the impulse of a broad fan in a style so odd that the boys 
kept tittering. Mr. Dow endured it for a while and then pausing 
in his sermon and pointing his finger at the venerable lady, exclaim- 
ed : "O, God, send an arrow of conviction down from Heaven 
straight through that old woman's cap border into her heart I" The 
fan was folded, the boys subsided, and the discourse went on. 

SOME OAK TREES. 

I have spoken of the oaks that surrounded the Pachaug church, 
1 was aware that the large things of youth look small in riper 
years. Iliad seen many big oaks in this country and Europe, when, 
in 18<)8, being near Pachaug, I thought I would run over and meas- 
ure those oaks, which I had not seen in a long while, but had never 
been able to get wholly out of my head. Alas ! the biggest had 
sunk under the weight of age, and the next biggest had succumbed 
to an autumn gale. I measured the two largest that remained. 
The trunk of the smallest of these averaged sixteen feet in circum- 
ference, and from tip to tip of its longest limbs it measured through 
the body 110 feet. The trunk of the largest averaged eighteen and 
a half feet in circumference, and from tip to tip of its longest limbs 
it measured through the body 120 feet. These were not "the babes 
of the woods." Nobody knew anything of the age of these patri- 
archs. 

SCHOOLS AND BOOKS. 

Well do I remember the little red school house in which I had 
learned the A. B. Cs. The sun glared upon it in summer, and the 
snows blockaded it in winter. The huge fireplace blazed with hick- 
ory logs from November to April. Consequently, the youngsters 
who sat on the low hard benches near the hearth, were roasted, 
while the big boys and girls who occupied the back benches near 
the rattling windows, shivered with cold. Our ordinary text books 
were Webster's Spelling Book, Daboll's Arithmetic, Murray's Gram- 
mar, Morse's Geography, Flint's Surveying, Tytler's History, Bel- 
knap's Biography, the American Preceptor and the never-to-be-for- 
gotten Westminster Catechism. We had no maps, atlases, black- 
boards, or any other of the modern aids and appliances for the acqui- 
sition of knowledge. We lost less by this than many imagine. Learn- 



14 

ingislikegold. Those wlioget it by the li:irdest work g3ncrally keo[) 
it, -while tVoni those to wliom itcoinos without the asking, it is liable 
to slip away. The most of what 1 obtained in the old school house 
at Pachaug and the rickettv bnildinu- fvt Jewett City in vonthful 
days, stays with mc yet. Aside from school books. Bibles, psalm 
books and the professional books of the clergy, tiie physicians and 
our one lawyer, I presume all the volumes in this rather wealthy 
town did not exceed lob. T tliink 1 went through the whole of 
them more than once. 

OUR TEACHERS. 

Nathan DaboU, the arithmetician, was a native of our (.'ounty. 
Of course we thought he was the greatest maihematician in the 
world. One day we heard he was about to pass the red school 
house. We were marshalled out to greet him, tlic pupils all in a 
row, and the master at the head of the line. Mr. Daboll approached 
on a venerable gray horse, his white he.id touching the pommel 
of the saddle. We gave him a low b )w, he lifted his aged hat, 
smiled 1)enignly and rode- on. A tew years before he had taught 
school in Griswold. 

One of my teachers at Jewett City was George D. Prentice, the 
poet, who was born within a stone's throw of me. lie is better 
known as the witty editor of the Louisville Journal, now the Cour- 
ier-Journal, managed by Heurv Watterson. Manv were the lite- 
rary favors I received from Prentice. He was a graduate of Brown, 
an admirable instructor, a ripe scholar, had a wonderful memory, 
and was a skillful wrestlei'. I have .seen him on a waiier read two 
large pages in a strange book twice through, and then repeat them 
without a miss. The champion wrestler of the county met Pren- 
tice casually in the barroom of the Jewett City Hotel. The cham- 
pion was a stalwart fellow, tall, athletic and weighed 50 per cent 
more than Prentice. The tloor was hard and the ceiling was high. 
They clinched. The struggle was brief but desperate. The cham- 
yjion went under rather lightly. He insisted upon another hold. 
Xo sooner were they ready than Prentice threw the champion clear 
over his shoulders, brino-inir him to the floor with a thud that made 
the house jar, and beating nil tlie breath nul of his body. 

Prentice studied law at Griswold. lie wore a pistol, but IkkI n(t 
use for it there. When he went to Louisville and took up the edi- 
torial pen, the pistol came into play. 1 la^t met him in 1859 at 
New York, where he had come to issue a volume of his witty say- 
ings. 



15 

FACTORIES. 

In passing tliroui^h Jewctt City, the industrions Pacliaiig river 
propelled the wheels of a dozen mills. Among tliem was a woolen 
factory erected at the opening of the century by a Mr. Scotield, an 
Englishman, who brought his machinerj^ from beyond the Atlantic. 
It was said that threats were made to kill him in order to crush this 
then scarcely born species of industry. England has since learned 
to accomplish the same end by prostrating the protective tariffs of 
her rivals. My father was ultimately the partner of Seofield. At 
the same time he manufactured machinery, and owned two countiy 
stores. The years I spent in these stoi'cs and factories gave me a 
close acquaintance with merchandise and machinery. The latter 
served me an excellent purpose in later times when I became a pat- 
ent lawyer and tried patent suits in the Courts. 

HENRY CLAY. 

We always celebrated the Fourth of July. We had our dinner, 
road the Declaration of Independence, drank our lemon punch, gave 
the thirteen regular toasts, and then called for volunteers ; that is to 
say, the full grown men did this. I was brought up to admire 
Henry Clay. In 182-1, Clay, Crawford, Adams and Jackson were 
running for the Presidency. The Foui-th of July brought its cele- 
bration. Captain Fanning, my great uncle, who had fought 
through the revolution, was to preside at the dinner. How I got 
in I do not now remember. Clad in the garb of the previous cen- 
tury, and crowned with a flowing wig. Captain Fanning sat at the 
head of the table, gave the regular toasts, and asked for \-olunteers. 
I sprang to my feet, my chin a little above the table cloth, deliv- 
ered a speech about halt an inch long, and gave, ''Henry Clay; the 
eloquent champion of domestic manufactures and internal improve- 
ments." My prim old uncle stared at me with amazement. The 
Clay men clinked their glasses, pounded the table, and I sat down 
covered with confusion and applause. This was the fii'st of the six- 
teen Presidential campaigns in which I have delivered speeches — 
sometimes not a few. 

GENERAL LAFAYETTE. 

In 1825, Gen. LaFayette in his last visit to this country passed 
through Jewett City on his way from New York to Boston, We 
had short notice of his coming. The whole villai^e turned out to 
greet him. Captain Fanning who had fought under him at Mon- 



IG 

nioutli and had taken a hasty breakfast witli him just as the battle 
was commencing, did the honors of the present occasion. La Fay- 
ette and Fanning had not met in nearly 45 years, and tlic latter 
■was wondering if the Marquis would recognize him. Tlur coach 
drove np. It was late in the evening. Tlie ^Marquis alighted with 
his son and other companions and entered the hotel. Captain Fan- 
nino; stood in the ijarlor without moving. La Favette o;azed intent- 
ly at him for a moment, then walked sti"aight up to him, and throw- 
ing his arms around him, French fashion, exclaimed, "Captain Fan- 
ning 1 God bless you, my old comrade !" 

JOURNEY TO ROCHESTER, N. Y. IN 1826. 

Early in April, 182G, I started for the "far west,'" even to the 
Genesee country, which seemed then farther off than Oregon does 
now. Mv route was bv Long Island Sound, the Hudson Eiver and 
Erie Canal, which had been completed the October previous. I 
arrived at New York in the morning. It then contained a popula- 
tion of one hundred and fifty thousand. I rushed into Broadway. 
All the world seemed tu be there. I stared at the tall houses, and 
everybody I didn't run into I'un into me. I was specially attracted 
by the omnibuses, as I have seen tu be the case with other em^ 
grants in later years. They were bound for such far-off villages as 
Greenwich and Chelsea, which, I subseipiently learned, were located 
one near the foot of Tenth street, and theother at Eighteenth street, on 
the west side. We had taken Major Noah's newspapei', and I knew 
about Tammany Hall an<l the Bucktails. I sought the famous 
building. I stood before it I remembei'ed tlu' couplet: 

"There's a hancl of jxntci' in 'I'animniiy Hall. 
Ami llic I'ucktails ai'c swiji'u'in^' il all llic day long." 

I confrontc<l the City Hall. To my yoiitlit'iil eye it seemcil :iii 
architectuiMl mar\ri. Well, to this day it is oiir of the most 
unique specimens of its kind in the counti'v. New York City at this 
pcrioil has been dcscrihi'd a tliousand times. 1 pass on. 

yVLBANV. 

I reached Albany in \\w f trenooii. Its po[)ulation was fifteen 
thousand. I re))aired to the Ca])itol. It filled me with wonder. I 
thought it e(jnal to the ('(liti'/i' wliicli crowned theCapitoline Hill in 
ancient Rome. I was bewildered when 1 K'.irntvl that it cost $100,- 
00;). The Tweed style ol doing this S(»rt ot a thing had not then 
been discovered. There; it stood; its ma.ssive walls ; its fluted col- 
umns: its toweriui:: dome sui'inounted bv the Statue of Justice beai-- 



IT 

ing aloft the scales. I entered the Assembly Chamber and listened! 
. to an angry debate between Samuel Yonng, Erastus Root and Fran- 
cis Granger, then among the renowned politicians of New York. 
Granger was the attraction of the ladies' gallery. Clad in a bottle- 
green coat with gilt buttons and brilliant appurtenances to match, 
he was a model of grace and beauty. I went into the Senate Cham- 
l)er and heard a discussion about tlie Canals and State Road, by 
Cadwaliader D. Colden ot IS'ew York, and Silas Wright of St. Law- 
rence. Lieutenant Governor James Tallmadge, who had won dis- 
tinction in tlie Misso'.n-i controversy, tilled the chair. These tilings 
and these men looked largo to me then. Years afterward when a 
member of the same body, and standing behind the scenes, thev 
dwindled in magnitude. 

\)\i WITT CLINTON. 

I sav»- the Govennn* in tlie Executive Chaml)er. Do Witt Clin- 
ton was one of tlie most magnificent men that e\'cr stood on the soil 
of New York. lie was then in the height of his grandeur and f'lor^■. 
The Erie Canal, his greatest achievement, had been finished the pre- 
vious fall, and he had come down fron\ Buffalo to All)any in the 
canal boat "Young Lion of the We-t'' through an uid)roken succes- 
sion of cheers and the booming of cannon. lie ranked among the 
tbremost Statesmen ot the nation. 

ON TO ROCHESTER. 

The canal not Ijcing wholly free of ice I went by stage coach to 
Utica. The tributaries of the Mohawk Riv^er not having been then 
denuded of their ])rotecting forests, its banks were full. On arriv 
ing at Utica I cotdd say with Campbell, 

"From break of day to set of sun, 
'"I've seen tlic mighty Mohawk run." 

Utica was a gem of a city with four thousand five hundred souls. 
I took the packet boat for Rochester. We passed through Syracuse 
in a drizzling rain. It contained about two thousand five hundred 
people, and was just scrambling out of. its salt pits, covered with 
mud and slime. P»y-tlie-by, I had supposed that the Erie Canal 
was a pellucid stream like my own Pachaug. I found it the mud- 
diest ditch I ever saw. We shot into Rochester through the aque- 
duct across the Genesee as the sun was peeping over the shoulders 
of the hills in Brighton. The a(|ueduct seemed to me equal to 
those famous structures which supplied old Rome with water. 



18 

ROCHESTER. 

In April, 182G, Rochester was a little town of three thousand 
five hundred inhabitants, clinging with tenacity to both banks of 
the Genesee. In the center ot the village roared the Falls, one hun- 
dred feet hiii-h. It alroadv showed prenionitorv svmptoms of its 
coming beauty and greatness. It was growing with marvellous ra- 
pidity. Stumps of trees were standing in some its principal streets, 
and the woodman's axe was hewing down the forest to make I'oom 
for other streets. 

WILLIAM MORGAN. 

In September, 1S2G, William Morgan was abducted from Canan- 
daigua, carried through Rochester, and incarcerated in Fort Niagai-a, 
which stood solitary and alone, abandoned by the government. 
Then broke out the anti-Masonic excitement which convulsed wes- 
tern New York for many years. These bitter controversies tore 
society all in pieces. Their history has been written again and 
again, and I shall not repeat a line of it, although I was a witness 
of the whole of it. The statement of Mr. Thurlow Weed, published 
since his deatli, in regard to the fate of Morgan is, no doubt, sub- 
stantially true. I knew all the principal characters mentioned in 
that statement. I have seen many sharp political and social con- 
tests in my da)', and viewed in some aspects I thiidc the anti-Masonic 
feuds excelled them all. 

THURLOW WEED. 

When I came t<» Rochester Mr. Weed was the editor of a weekly 
Clintonian new^spaper, called the Monroe Telegraph. lie had 
been a Member of Assembly the yeai' before. He was one of the 
poorest and worst dressed men in Rochester, He dwelt in a cheap 
house in an obscure part of the village. In the central and wes- 
tern counties of the State, however, he was then as great a power in 
]»oliticsas at any subsequent period of his lift-. He was often sent 
by his associates on missions of grave im])ortance into vai'ious states. 
He sometimes had to borrow clothes to give him an appearance be- 
fittinir his talents. I was standing one day in the street with Mr. 
Weed and Frederick Whittlesey, who was sul)se(piently ViceChan- 
celhjr and Judge of the Old Sui)reme Court, when up came AVeed's 
little son and said: "Fathei-, mother wants a shilling to buy some 
bread." Weed put on a qutei' look, hit in his pockets and remark- 
ed: "That is a liomc appeal, but I'll be hanged it I've got the shil- 



19 

ling." Wliittlesey pulled out a silver dollar, gave it to the boy and 
said: ''Take tliat liouie to vour niotlier."' He seized the o-littcring 
prize and ran off like a deer. 1 don't mention these things to the 
discredit of Mr. Weed, but to his honor. It was rare that a man 
wliu was so poor should be so gre:it. Spattered with iidv, and with 
bare arms, he pulled at the old [)res3 of the Telegraph, and wrote 
tliose sparkling paragraphs wiiich in later 3^ears made the Albany 
Evening Journal famous. 

SAM PATCH. 

I must dispose of one or two little things in Rochester without 
I'ccollecting precise] J the year in which they occurred. Sam Patcli, 
the famous jumper and diver, c:une there in the tall, we will say, of 
1828, and proposed to leap from the Falls in the heart of the vil- 
lage. On the day fi.ved Sam appeared. The banks of the river as 
far as the eye could rea(;h were lined with spectators. He was 
dressed i;i a suit of white, and I will state for the benefit of other 
fools of the same class, that bL'fore he leaped he placed his hands 
firmly on his loins, then sprang from the shelving rock, and went 
down straight ;is an ai-row. lie came up feet foremost and swam 
ashore amid the shouts of thousands. A few days later he ])roposed 
to leap again. He erected a scaffold twenty-five feet high on the brink 
of the Falls, making the descent one hundred and twenty-five feet. 
On the day named another immense throng assembled. Mr. "Weed 
and I happened to meet at the foot of the scaft'old. Patch came, 
dressed as before, and, apparently, a little under the influence of 
liquor. Ashe ascended the scaftold Mr. Weed left, but I remained. 
As Patch went down his arms were all in a whirl, and he struck the 
water with a stunning splash. The crowd waited for hours. He 
did iiot I'ise. The next spring the mangled remains of the poor 
wretch were found at the foot of the falls at Carthage four miles 
below. 

EDMUND KEAN. 

We had a little theatre at Rochester, managed by an Englishman 
named Williair.s, who had played subordinate parts to Edmund 
Kean in London. Kean stopped at Rochester with one or two com- 
panions, on his way to Niagara Falls for rest. Williams was al- 
ways in debt, and generally in the hands ut the sheriff". He saw 
Kean at the hotel and implored him to play one night and help him 
out of difficulty. Please remember this was the original Kean, the 
real Kean, the great Kean; not the feeble imitation which appeared 



20 

ill Ill's .s(in Charles Kean. The peerless actor yielded to the iniportiini- 
ties of Williams. Ample time for ])reparation was ij^iven ; the price 
of seats was put up three times the current rates in New York; the 
play was "The Iron Chest," Kean, of course, takin<^ the part of Sir 
Edward Mortimer. The elite of Monroe and one or two adjoin- 
ing counties packed the house in every part. The affair was a grand 
success. At the close of the performance we got a speech out of 
Kean, and AVilliams got out of the hands of the sheriff. 

DEATH OF DEWITT CLINTON. 

In February, 1828, De Witt Clinton died without a moment's 
warning, at Albany. The })rofound impression which his decease 
produced in New York has ncN'or been e(|ualled by any similar event. 
The contest for the Presidency between John Quincy Adams and 
Andrew Jackson had just opened. Clinton had declared in favor 
of Jackson, and was bringing over to his standard as rapidly as pos- 
t^ible, his great following. The personal party which Clinton had 
built up was never erpialled in the Stite. Martin \'an JJuren, a 
projuinent Senator in Congress, head of the Albany Regency, and 
an opponent of Clinton, was the Jackson leader in New York. It 
was understood that Jackson's partialities for Clinton were so strong 
that in case of his election he would have made him Secretary of 
State, and Van Buren would have had to wait. At a meeting of 
the New York delegation in Congress, held at Washington in re- 
gard to the death of Clinton, Stephen Van Eensselaer presided, and 
Van Buren njade the memorial speech. He closed with these words : 
"I who never envied him anything while living, am now tempted to 
envy him his grave M'ith its honors." 

Van Buren was in due time nominated for Governor tor tlie en- 
suing election to help Jackson carry New York. [lis Urst mission 
was to conciliate the friends ot Clinton. In the summer of lS2She 
made a tour for that purpose. He came to Kochestei-. The next 
day was the Sabbath. He attended the First Presbyterian Church, 
the wealthy and aristocratic church of the town, and occupied the 
pew of one of the elders who had been a life-long Federalist and 
supporter of Clinton. All eyes were fixed upon the man who held 
Jackcon's fate in his hands. As everybody kuo^ws, Vaw Buren was 
rather an e\(juisite in personal appearance. His complexion was a 
iji'ight blonde, and he dressed accordingly. On this occasion he 
wc>re an elegant snuffcolured broadcloth coat, with velvet collar to 
match; his cravat was orange tinted silk with modest lace tips; 
liis vest was of a i)earl hue; his trousers were white duck; his silk 



21 

hose corresponded to the vest, his shoes were Morocco; his nicely 
fitting gloves were yellow kid ; his hat, a long-furred beaver, with 
broad brim, was of Quaker color. Roscoc (Jonkling, his distin- 
guished successor in the Senate, never excelled that. 

POLITICS. 

Wc will go back a little in this year 1828. My idol, Mr. Clay, 
then Secretary of State, was involved in the struggle between 
Adams and Jackson, and I was, therefore, for Adams. Early in 
the spring, I made a speech in favor of Adams, at Rochester. In 
the summer I attended a Young-Mend's- Adams State Convention at 
Utica, whereof William H. Seward was President. Here com- 
menced an ac<juaintance betAveen ns which lasted till the death of 
that great statesman in 1871. I delivered several addresses in Mon- 
roe County during this campaign, and wrote some articles in Mr, 
Weed's Telegraphy and in Kovembercast my lirat presidential vote. 
The day went against us in New York, owing to votes thrown away 
on Solomon Southwick, the anti-Masonic candidate for Governor. 
Van Buren was chosen, and in March he took the ofhce of Secretary 
of State under Jackson. 

COURTS OF LAW. 

In January, 1829, 1 became Deputy Clerk of Monroe. The Clerk 
lived manj^ miles out of town, and the responsibilities of the office 
fell entirely upon me. I ofticiated as Clerk for nearly three years 
in all the Courts of Record. In witnessing conflicts of lawyers, 
and some of them were the heads of the profession, I learned 
a great deal of law, and especially in the matter of evidence. In- 
deed, I was studying law all these years. Among the leaders of 
the ];rofession in Monroe were Daniel D. Barnard, Addison Gard- 
iner and Samuel L. Selden, names that will be instantly recognized 
by the Bar throughout the State. We had occasional vicits from 
such men as Daniel Cady, Elisha Williams, John C. Spencer and 
Henry R. Storrs, while among the young lawyers w^ho tried causes 
in our county M'ere Millard Fillmore and William H. Seward. 

ALBANY EVENING JOURNAL. 

In 1829 it was resolved to run Thurlow Weed for the Assembly. 
The campaign was to the last degree acrimonious. Weed's leader- 
ship in the anti-Masonic excitement had raised up against him an 
army of enemies. The famous cry of "A good enough Morgan till 
after the election" was worked for all it was worth. Weed was a 



22 

tremendous power at the pulls. AVitli one liaiul lull of ballots and 
tlie other on the shoulder of a hesitatiui^ voter, it was impossible for 
his })risoner to escape the intluence ot his maL';netic eye. AVced's 
opponent wa^; a pi-ominent member ot the First Presbyterian con- 
•ijrcgation. It was deemed important that Weed should attejjid ser- 
vice there on tiie Sabbath previous to the election. He borrowed 
some c^armcnts, came in on time, wearini;- a wretclied cravat and a 
shocking bad hat. The next day he abstained from the polls, but 
could not help taking a seat in a lott which overlooked the ])riiici]»al 
voting place of Rochester, and for three days during whii-h the row- 
test lasted, he walked the room like a caged lion I now and then 
repaired to the room, and as Weed would look out upon the side- 
walk and see a doubtful voter approaching the polls he would wring 
his hands and say: '"01 what would T give if I could see that 
man for one moment." Weed was triumphant and went to the As- 
sembl}', and in April, 1S30 he issued the first number of the Alhany 
Evening Journal. 

CHARLES G. FINNEY. 

The clergy of Rochester in 1S3U were exceptionally able. The 
minister of the First Presbyterian Church was Dr. Penny; the 
pastor of the second was Mr. James, son of the Albany millionaire, 
familiarly called "Billy" James ; the pulpit of the third was vacant : 
the Episcopal clergyman was Mr. AVhitehouse, subsequently the 
distinguished Bishop of Illinois, Dr. Comstock of Baptist Church 
had served six years in Congress, the Methodist preacher Avas a 
brother of Millard Fillmore. In October, 1830, Charles G. Finney, 
the famous evangelist, came to Rochester to supply the pulpit of 
the Third Presbyterian Church. I had been absent a few days and 
on my return was asked to hear him. It was in the afternoon. A 
tall, grave looking man, dressed in an unclerical suit of gray, as- 
cended the pulpit. Light hair covered his tall forehead ; his eyes 
were of a sparkling blue, and his every movement dignified and 
graceful. I listened. It did not sound like ])reaching, but like a 
lawyer arguing a case before a court and jury. This M-as not sin- 
gular, perhaps, for the speaker had been a liwyer before he became 
a clergyman. The discourse was a chain of the closest logic, bright- 
ened by felicity ot illustration and enforced by urgent appeals from 
a voice of rare compass and melody. Mr. Finney was then in the 
fullness of his powers. He had won distinction elsewhere, but was 
unknown in Rochester. lie preached there six months, usually 
speaking three times on the Sai)bath, and three or four times dur- 



23 

ing the week. His style was particularly attractive for lawyers. 
He illustrated his points frequeutly and happily by references to 
lei^al principles. The first efl:ect was produced among the higher 
elassos. It began with the judges, the lawyers, tlie physicians, the 
bankers and the merchants, and worked its way down to the bottom 
of society, till nearly everybody had joined one or the other of the 
churches controlled b3^ the difi^'erent denominations. I have heard 
many celebrated pulpit orators in various parts of the world. Taken 
all in all, I never knew the superior of Charles G. Finney. Ilis 
power over an audience was Avonderful. Do not infer that there 
was a trace of rant or fnstian in him. You might as well apply 
these terms to heavy artillery on a field of battle. His sermons 
were usually an hour lonir, but on some occasions I have known an 
audience which packed every part of the house and filled the aisles, 
listen to him without the movement of a foot two hours and a half. 
He was a fine singer, and when a lawyer, used to lead the choir and 
play the bass-viol in his town. In singing the Doxology he alone 
could fill the largest edifices. His gestures were appropriate, forci- 
ble and graceful. As he would stand with his face toward the side 
gallery am] then involun-tarily wheel around, all the audience in 
that part of the house toward which he tlire\v his ai-m would dodge 
as if he M'ere hurlinii: somethino; at them. In deccribino; the slidino- 
of a sinner to perdition he would lit\ his long finger toward the 
ceiling and slowly bring it down till it pointed to the area in front 
of the pulpit, when half his hearers in the rear of the house would 
rise unconsciously to their feet to see him descend into the pit below. 
Bear in mind that this was without the slightest approach to excite- 
ment on the part of the orator. I believe that Mr. Finney regarded 
his success at Rochester as among the greatest of his remarkable 
career. In theology he was a New School Presbyterian. 

LANE SEMINARY. 

I desired to supply deficiencies in an imperfect education. After 
studying the Classics a year or more in and around Rochester I 
went in the spring of 1832 to Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, 
over which Kev. Dr. Lyman Beecher was to preside. Having to 
support younger brothers in their educational aspirations, I would 
fain save a little by going to Cincinnati part way on a raft of lum- 
ber. I helped to load a raft; at Olean, N. Y., and then aided to 
guide it down the whirling currents of the Alleghany River to Pitts- 
burgh. There I took a deck passage on a steamboat to Cincinnati. 
I believe I did my full share of the work of managing an 



21 

( ar on tlic raft, and ])reventing it Ironi lollowini;' the bad example 
ot several other rafts which lost their heads and scattered their 
bones alonsj the banks of the turbnlent river. 

FIRST ANTI-SLAMiRY SPEECH. 

In the sunuuer of 1S3-2, 1 was passing throngh the hall ot the 
Seminary and saw on tlie bulletin board of my clnlt that the (juestion 
lor debate that evenini;' was this: '*If tlu' shives of the South were 
to rise in insurrection, would it be the duty of the North to aid in 
putting it down V 1 glanced at the board and never dreamed there 
would be more than one side to the question, and that the negative. 
When the hot evening came, to my surprise everybody arranged 
themselves in the aflirmative part of the room except myself. As 
it afterward came to pass that this was the beginning of my lite- 
work, and lent color to my whole future existence, I shall be par- 
doned for a few personal details. This was in the midst of tlic South- 
ampton insurrection in Virginia, when Nat. Turner, a deluded negro, 
had raised an insurrection which nnide the cheek of the ancient Do- 
minion tr.rn pale and its knees smite together in terror. As 
tlie only person on my sith; ot the j)ending debate, I had tlie privilege 
of waiting till all my op[)onents were through before I spoke. I 
iirst divested myself of my cravat, then of my collai', then of my 
coat, then of my vest. As the debate went on and the i)erspiration 
started from me in unwonted streams I repaired to my room, took 
off my boots, i)ut on my slipj'crs, and leturned to tlie club. Wlien 
I rose to speak I might be regarded as standing in Avhat was said 
to be the regular ball costume in Arkansas, viz: a shirt collar and 
a pair c>f spurs; but 1 never spoke with nioii' fci-wir and satisfaction 
for three-cjuarters of an lium- than on that occasion. This was my 
first anti-slavery s])eech. I ''fought it out on that line" till T saw 
the Thirteenth, Fouiteciilli and Fifteenth Amendments incorporated 
into the Constitution, ami Horace Greeley the regular Democratic 
candidate tbr President, when I was ready to say with one of old, 
"Now lettest Tlmn Thy servant depart in ])ea('e ■■'' ■"•■ "" '■' for 
mine eyes have seen tliy salXation.*' 

LYMAN BIiECIIER. 

Di'. Ijcechei' was tried tor heresy l»y the Presbyter)' ol Cincin- 
nati for certain utterances of his in iNew Englaiul. The case liad 
got up to the Synod which met in Cincinnati in 1834. The testi- 
mony was all ill. One forenoon Dr. lleecher commenced summing 
up in his defence. As u.-ual he was al)le and inirenious while ad- 



25 

dressing his distinguished auditory. On the adjonrnuiont at noon ho 
took a select party to his house for dinner, among whom were some 
of his antagonists. As was the Doctor's wont in enthusiastic hours lie 
kept right on making his speech at the dinner-table. He was vivid, 
elastic and facetious. He seemed particularly desirous ot favorably 
impressing his moderate opponents. Suddenly there piped up from 
the lower end of the table a voice which uttered these words : 
"Father, I listened to your speech in the Synod this morning, and 
I know you are plagued good at twisting, but if you can twist your 
creed onto the Westminster Confession of Faith, you can twist bet- 
ter than I think you can.'' The Doctor's countenance fell, but only 
for a moment. He suddenly rallied and said, "All my boys are 
smart, and some of them are impudent." Then, of course, rose a 
laugh. The voice that piped up from the lower end of the table 
l)elonged to Henry Ward Beeeher. Whether he can twist his creed 
onto the Confession of Faith it does not become me to decide. 
The Doctor's case went up to the General Assembly, and was yet 
undecided when the Presbj'terian Church was rent in two in 1838. 
Doctor Beeeher was one of the mao-nates of New School Presbv- 
tcrianism in whose ranks shone Dr. Nathaniel W. Taylor of New 
Haven, Albert Barnes of Philadelphia, Dr. N. S. S. Beman of Troy, 
and Charles G. Finney. Mr. Beman was the debater of his faction. 
The leader on the Old School side was Dr. Ashbel Green, President 
of Princeton Colleo-e. The combatants fouo-ht just like the world's 
people, and kept the church in a turmoil for years. Dr. Beman was 
often sarcastic. It will be remembered that in the fly-leaf of the old 
Catechism were poetic couplets, arranged under the letters of the 
alphabet, and set to horrible rhymes. The one under A read: 

"la Adam's fall, 
We sinned all." 

Dr. Beman used to repeat this, and then add to it: 

' -In Adam'^ fall, 
We sinned all; 
In Cain's murder, 
We sinned furder; 
By Doctor Green, 
Our sin is seen." 

I could give many anecdotes illustrating the peculiar character- 
istics of Dr. Beeeher; but I forbear except to tell one, to show his 
chronic absent-mindedness. He preached in the First Presbyterian 
Church, the aristocractic, rich church of Cincinnati. He was always 
doing some odd thing. One Sunday he came in late ; the house 
was packed ; he walked rapidly u[) the aisle with a piece of blotted 



26 

manuscript in liis hand; ascended tlic pulpit ; opened the Bible; 
spread his manuscript, took liis text, and was about to begin his 
sermon without an)"^ preliminary exercises. One ot the Elders rose 
from his pew and stood. The Ekler looked at the Doctor; llie 
Doctor looked at the Elder. The Eider came out of his pew, the 
Doctor came down the stairs, and thev met. The Elder whispered 
a few words in the Doctor's car, the Doctor re-ascended, closed his 
Bible, and said "Let us pray.'' This was a specimen ot many such 
performances. I don't know of any better way of accounting for it 
than to tell what the Doctor once said to us at the Seminary 
when giving a lecture in oratory. "Young gentlemen," said lie^ 
"don't stand before a looking-glass and make gestures. Never mind 
your gestures. Pump yourselves brim-full of your subject till you 
can't hold another drop, and then knock out the bungand let nature 
caper." In the instance of the sermon the Doctor had pumped him- 
self full on the subject in his study, and when ho reached ihe 
Churcli was too eager to knock out the bung. 

JAMES G. BIRNEY. 

In 1834, 1 went to Danville, Ky., to obtain a letter from Mr. 
Birney giving his reasons for joining the anti-Slavery Society. It 
was a remarkably able document anil had a large circulation. He 
had been a slave-holder, belonged to one of the first Kentucky fam- 
ilies, and was a profound lawyer. He was the father of Major Gen- 
eral David B. Birney who commanded a corps in the army of the 
Potomac in the War of the Rebellion, where he fought in defence 
of his father's principles. He died in the war. Mr. Birney was 
the first Liberty-Party candidate for President. He was a wise, 
upriglit, far-seeing patriot. 

ANTI-SLAVERY. 

I attended the Anniversary of the American Anti-Slaveiy Society 
in New York, in 1834-, and tiiere encountered the first ot my two 
hundred mobs. We had a great anti-Slavery debate at the Sem- 
inary and formed a society during that fall. Pro-Slavery Trustees 
required that we should dissolve it. We refused to do so. They 
then passed arbitrary rules in respect to discussion and even conver- 
sation on the subject of slavery at the Seminary. A goodly jiorlion 
of us, who were not to be thus throttled, left. It was a heavy blow 
to the Seminary, which hardly regained its feet for the next six 
years. I was on the Comtnittee that issued an address in vindi- 
cation of our course. It produced a j)rofound impression. In the 



27 

early sprinp; of 1835. Mr. Birnej and myself went east on an anti- 
Slavery Mission. We spoke at Philadelphia and New York. I 
then held meetincrs at Providence, R. I., Boston, Mass., and Con- 
cord, ]^. II., intending to return west and pursue my studies. On 
my return to New York I received a commission as general a^ent 
ot the American Anti-Slavery Society. I immediately entered 
upon tlie the work which occupied so large a share of my active life. 

I shall deal as summarily as possible with this subject. When I 
entered upon my life-work, Slavery had the State and Church by 
the throat; and though the Abolitionists advocated peaceful meas- 
ures for the emancipation of tiie bmndmen, they were everywhere at 
the mercy of mobs. For the dozen years foHowing the fall ot 1831, 
I was in the field. I was several years in the Executive Committee 
and Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and as such, 
I addressed millions of men and women in every northern State, 
from Indiana to Maine, in Kentucky, Maryland,. and Delaware, and 
in England, Scotland, Ireland, aiid France. I appeared before ten 
Legislative Committees, and addressed tlic iir.-^t committee ot tliat 
kind in the country — tliat of the Senate and House of Ma.'^sachu- 
setts, in February, 1837, in s!;i)])urt ot John Quincy Adams' course 
in Congress. The lion. S. G Goodrich— better known as Peter 
Parley — was a member of tliat Committee. I spoke tor two days 
in the Hall of the Pepresentatives in Boston, and at the close, joint 
resolutions were passed by the Legislature in favor of the abolition 
of slavery in the District of Columbia, and John Quinc}^ Adams' 
course in Congress was approved. Three hundred thousand copies 
ot ray speech on that occasion wei-e distributed. 

I subsequently addressed Committees of the Massachussetts Leo-- 
islature against the annexation ot Texas, eliciting reports in accord 
with my arguments. 

MOBS. 

Vice-President Wilson, in the "■Rise and Fall of the Slave Power," 
is my authority for saying that I was mobbed at least 200 times. 
In 1835, I went into the town ot East Greenwich, R. I., and was 
the guest of Judge Brown, a gentleman of high standing. My 
anti-Slavery meeting was advertised. A constable arrived at Jndge 
Brown's, and I was served with a warrant warning me out of town 
as a vagrant without visible means of support, and therefore liable 
to become a town charge. Judge Brown gave bail for me, and I 
held the meeting, and invited the constable to hear me. In those 
days it was the practice to get signatures to the anti-Slavery roll. 



28 

The first iiainc siirued was that of the constable who had served the 
warrant. I viewed the capture of tliat constable as a great achieve- 
ment. 

We resorted to odd expedients to <;-et in anti-Slavery speeches. 
The temperance cause was popular. In 1S35, in Rhode Island. I 
agreed to address an audience an hour and a half on Temperance, 
if they Mould then let me speak an hour and a half on Slavery. On 
the next Sabbath the compact was faitlifully fulfilled on both sides 
in the presence of a large concourse. 

MOB IN PROVIDENCE. 

In 183t-), I was outrageously treated while attempting to speak 
to a meetin<r in a Methodist Church at Providence. The mills of 
the gods ground slowly, but they did not stop. I addressed an im- 
mense Fremont out-door meetini>; at Providence in 1S50. In re- 
spect to Slavery I dealt with it far more severely than in 1S3G. 
There were plenty of Governors on the platform, and Bishop Clark, 
of that diocese, was at my right hand. A man on the platform, be- 
decked with orders, was Chief JMarshal. His enthusiasm in repeat- 
edly calling for cheers bothered me \vhile speaking. Alter I had 
finished, 1 asked who that chief Marshal Mas, and my friend, laugh- 
ing, said : "Don't you remember that, in 1830, M'hen you M-ere de- 
livering: an anti-Slavei'v address in the Methodist Church here, a 
howling mob kept rushing up the aisles, shaking their fists at you 
and yelling, and they finally broke up the meeting ? "Well, he M'as 
the leader of that mob, and noM- he is making amends." 

CHURCH BURNING. 

The respectable scoundrels M-ho encouraged these crimes against 
society had no regard for the kind of edifices their vulgar tools as- 
sailed. I delivered one evcniuii" an address in a beautiful little 
church in Livingston Co., N. Y. I cannot now recall the name of 
the town where I spoke. The next morning the church M'as a heap 
of ashes Pro-Slaverv incendiaries had set it on fire duriuii; the 

»/ CI? 

night. 



o 



MOB IN PORTLAND. 

In Portland, in 1S3S, an anti-Shi ition sat lor four 
days in the old Quaker meeting-hou^■. ., uel Fessenden, u 
leading member of the Uar of jVI.tiin ided, but not all his iii- 
fiuence could deter the mob. J i .ig-house M'as utterly rid- 
dled. At leni^th the best men oi lud said, "This M'on't do." 



29 

Tlic poet John Neal origan ized about 200 special constables, and 
Icadii]^<>; them himself, put the mob down. Years afterward, meet- 
ing Gen. Fessenden's son, Senator William Pitt Fcssenden, in Wash- 
ino'tou Citv, I eulo£!:ized his father's behavior in 1838. lie asked, 
'*Do you recollect that on one of those evenings a young man took 
your arm as you walked out of the meeting. to go through the out- 
side mob and said, "1 will accompany you to your lodgings and 
share the peril with you ? I am that person." 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

I went to Washington in 1838 to look after the imperilled right 
of petition. John Quincy Adams who was fighting our battle in 
Congress, received me with marked courtesy, partly, perhaps, be- 
cause I had defended him so warmly in my speech before the Com- 
mittee of the Massachusetts Legislature. I saw him on a field day 
in the House. He coolly presented his pile of anti- Slavery peti- 
tions one by one, and scarified the Southern members who inter- 
rupted him. Mr. Polk, the speaker, was annoyed, but could not 
help himself. Indeed, he was evidently afraid ot Mr. Adams, the 
old man eloquent I In youth he had exhibited the wisdom of age; 
m age he was displaying the vigor of j'onth. 

A word about speakers of the House. I have seen nine in the 
Chair. As presiding officers I think Mr. Banks was the best, and 
Mr. Pennington the worst. 

COL. DICK JOHNSON. 

I spent a few hours in the Senate, The lions were there; Clay 
Webster, Calhoun, Wright and Benton. I had previously heard 
Mr, Clay on a platform in New York, Mr. Webster before a jury 
in Boston, and Mr. Wright in the New York Senate. I now listened to 
a five minute speech each from Mr. Benton and Mr. Calhoun, and 
had to be therewith content. Vice President Richard M. Johnson 
was in the chair. He was shabbil_y dressed, and to the last degree 
clumsy. What a contrast between him and Martin Van Buren, his 
urbane, elegant predecessor. Col. Johnson owed his promotion 
largely to two acts, neither of which he performed. lie was as 
guiltless of the killing of Tecumseh at the battle of the Thames, 
in the war of 1812, as was William Tecumseh Sherman, and he 
did not write a line of the famous Sunday mail report. 

FORESHADOWING. 

In 1838 I made a speech before the American Anti-Slavery So- 



30 

cich- wherein I predicted that slaver3- would ultimately fall by 
means of an amendment of the Constitution, and that this would 
result from the preponderance ot free states in the West. My pre- 
diction came to pass. The speech is on record. 

CALEB GUSHING. 

In 1S38 the abolitionists began to put test questions to candidates 
for Congress, and then cast their votes for or against them as their 
answers were satisfactory or otherwise. Caleb Ciishing was one of 
those M-ho replied unsatisfactorily. We lield a convention at 
Salem. Mass., to take measures to defeat him. I handled Mr. Gush- 
ing rather severely in a speech in a church in the evening. I was 
not then aware that he was a listener wrapped in a cloak in a dark 
corner of the gallery. A friend of Cnshing's visited liim early the 
next morning at his hotel and told him he must instantly write another 
letter to appease the abolition convention, which was about to ad- 
journ, or he would be ruined at the r^olls. His ni<;ht robe was verv 
thm, and the chair was very cold. Uut the epistle was penned, and 
the Avriter was re-elected. Caleb Gushing was a man of extraor- 
dinary talents, but an unscrupulous politician. The exposure of his 
duplicity in regard to Secession linallv brought h'un to grief when 
he was nominated for Chief Justice. 

GETTYSBURGH. 

AVishing to enlarge its lecturing corps, the Anti-Slavery Society 
deputed me in 1839, to go through the country and employ seventv 
public speakers. I travelled far on this errand, paying special at- 
tention to colleges, theological schools, and young lawyers. I vis- 
ited Gettysburgh on my tour. I was at the Lutheran Theolog- 
ical Institution on Seminary Eidge, which loomed high above the 
the village on the west. The view was beautiful. It swept over 
Cemeiery Ridge and the Round Top, lying easterly of the town. 
The intervening fields smiled with fruit trees and waving- o-niin. 
Little dreamed I then that twenty-four years later these landmarks 
would win world-wide celebrity by listening to the roar of one of 
the bloodiest battles of modern times, waged to defend and destroy 
the objects I was there to promote. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

From 1833 onward, I wrote much for the anti-Slavery press, and 
a little for such religious and political newspapers as would give us 
a hearing, 



81 

In 1839, 1 contributed a series of articles to the New York Amer- 
iccw, conducted by Cliarles King, subsequently President of Colum- 
bia College. The title of the scries was, "Glances at Men and 
Things." The signature was "Rambler." The topics were mis- 
cellaneous. Some of the numbers were widely copied. The author 
was not then idcnlitied. 

LONDON CONVENTION. 

In June, 1840, I attended a Convention in London, called to pro- 
mote the abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade throu2:hout the 
world. Thomas Clarkson, the abolition patriarch, was President, 
James G. Birney was one of the Yice- Presidents, and I was hon- 
ored with a seat among the Secretaries. Many nations were repre- 
sented. I will name a few of the most distinguished who took part 
in the proceedings, viz : The Duke of Sussex, uncle to the Queen ; 
Lord Brougham ; Lord Alorpeth, then Chief Secretary of Ii'claud ; 
Daniel O'Conncll ; Guizot, the French Minister at the Court of St. 
James; Dr. Lushington; Dr. Bowring ; Thomas Campbell, the 
poet ; Samuel Gurney, the great Quaker banker ; Sir Thomas Powell 
Buxton, and manv other Parliamentai-v leaders; Rev. John Ansell 
James, and a long list of clergymen of \arious denominations; 
and two young men then little known, John Bright and "William E. 
Forster. The cause of abolition wore gold slippers in England. 
The Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes; Lady Byron, 
widow of the poet, and several female celebrities smiled upon the 
convention. The proceedings Avere reported in a volume of 600 
pages, B. B. Ilaydon, the tamous artist, executed a largo painting 
of the prominent members of the Convention, which now hangs in 
the National Gallery. While at work on this picture he told rae 
manv racv anecdotes of his times. Poor Haydon ! He had the 
infirmities of genius. He died by his own hand in 1848. 

MEETINGS IN EUROPE. 

I was abroad till December, 1840. I delivered thirty or forty 
speeches in Great Britain and Ireland, and attended two conferences 
in France. I had come from the land of mobs, where the press, 
with few exceptions, delighted to misrepresent abolitionists. It 
seemed a pleasant change to find myself introduced to audiences by 
members of Parliament, Fello\Vs ot the Universities, Lord Mayors 
of cities, a Peer of the realm, a Bishop of the establishment, and the 
manager of the Edlnhurcjh Review^ and then to see my speeches 
fully and fairly reported in the newspapers. I took courage, and 



32 

dared to say in the words of Ebenezer Elliot, the Coni-law Rhymer, 

whom I met in Sheffield: 

, "There's a uood lime comiiiu'. 

A good time coining; 
We may not live to see the day, 
But Earth will glisten in the ray 
Of the good time coming; 
Wait a little longer." 



o^ 



1 lived tu ;;ee the day. 

PUBLICATIONS. 

AVhile in Europe I wrote letters to the New York American, de- 
scribini^: my tour under the caption ot ''Foreign Rambles," signed 
"Rambler." Toward the close a few bore the signature of ''Man- 
hattan." They extended from July, 1840, to February, 1841. Por- 
tions of them were widely copied. In the winter of 1848-9 I pub- 
lished a long series of numbers in the National Eraoi Washington, 
a Free-Soil ])aper, edited hy Dr. Bailey, an accomplished scholar, 
whose press had been thrown years before, into the river at Cincin- 
nati. They were entitled, "Sketches of Reforms and Reformers in 
Great Britain and Ireland." After thorough revision they were 
issued in 1849, in a volume of 400 pages, bearing the same title, in 
New York and London, by John Wiley. Portions were translated 
uiid printed in Paris. At a later date a second edition was issued 
by Charles Scribner. 

MOB IN NORWICH. 

On my return from Europe I completed my law studies, and, in 
1842, went into practice at Bostoti. 13ut I still peilbrmed much 
work in the anti- slavery cause, b(^th on the platform and in tlu; 
press. 

In 184r> I went to Norwich to dcli\er an anti slavery address in 
the Town Hall. The Hall was stoned, and all the windows smashed 
and we adjourned until evening. In the intermission three-inch 
planks were spiked on the inside ol'thc window near which I had 
to stand, to .shiehl nie tVoni the missiles of tlie mob. And this in 
my native county ! In tliat same Town Hall, 1 addressed a crowded 
meeting in the I'reniont canvass — a meeting presided over by Mr. 
Buckingham, subseipiently Governor — ami I was introduced to the 
audience by Gov. Cleveland. I remembered the mob and freed my 
mind foi"' two hours. A tlirong came over from Griswold and Pres- 
ton, and 1 i-eceived enthusiastic phiudirs instead of whiz/ing brick- 
bats. 






THE BARNBURNER REVOLT OF 1847. 

I removed from Boston to Seneca Falls, N. Y., in the fall of IS-iT. 
I was a spectator at the Democratic State Convention of that year, 
held in Syracuse. The Convention tore itself asunder in a desperate 
struggle over tlie renomination of Azariali C. Flagg as Comptroller, 
tlie defeat of Martin Yan Buren at the Baltimore Convention of 
1844, the assassination of Silas Wright at the polls in 1840, and the 
attempt to incorporate the AVilmot Proviso into tlie platform of the 
party. The great chiefs of both factions were on the ground, and 
never was there a more fierce, bitter and relentless conflict between 
the ISTarragansetts and the Pe(|uods, than this memorable contest 
between the Barnbnrnei's and the Hunkers. Mr. AY right was the 
idol of the Barnburners. lie had died that summer. James S. 
Wadsworth voiced the sentiments of his followers. In the conven- 
tion someone spoke of doing justice to Silas Wi'ight. A Hunker 
responded, ''It is too late; he is dead." Springing upon a table, 
Wadsworth made the hall ring as ho uttered the deliant reply: 
"Though it may be too late to do justice to Silas Wright, it is not 
too late to do justice to his assassins." The Hunkers laid the Wil- 
mot Proviso on the table, but the Barnburners punished them at the 
election. 

The Barnburners were tlie Girondists of the Democracy. Listen 
to a sample of names of those wlio did not unite with the Ilepub- 
lican party. Martin Yan Buren, Churchill C. Cambrelling, Mi- 
chael Hoffman, Dean Ilichmond, John Yan Buren, Samuel J. Til- 
den, Nicholas Hill, and Sanford E. Cliarch. Here followed the 
names of a few who ultimately joined the Republicans. David 
Dudley Field, Jolm A. Dix, William CuUen Bryant, Preston King, 
James S. Wadsworth, John Bigelow, Reuben E. Fenton, and 
Charles J. Folger. 

A slight acquaintance with the politics of New York suffices to 
show that these were men of mark. 

DEATH OF MR. ADAMS. 

I went to Washington in February, 1848, to attend to business 
in the Supreme Court. I heard Mr. Clay argue a case. For two 
hours his sonorous voice pealed through the corridors, and delighted 
a great throng. Mrs. James Madison sat by his side. The vener- 
able lady was as proud of the orator as she was 3G years before 
when he championed the administration of her eminent husband in 
Congress during the war with England. 



84 

In the chilly morning of February 21st, I met Mr. Adams by the 
lireplace in the rear of the Speaker's chair in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. He had walked, as was liis wont, to the Capitol. Ashe 
shook my hand he trembled with cold. He took his usual seat. 
Some fulsome resolutions eulo":izin2: Gen. Tavlor, who was loomini? 
as a possible Presidential candidate, were the first business. They 
created an uproar. Forty members were shoutinnj to the Speaker. 
Mr. Winthrop was vigoroudy plying his gavel. My eye fell upon 
Mr. Adams. His hand was nervously creeping up his desk as if he 
were trying to rise. I thought he was about to take part in the din 
that filled the Hall. But instantly I saw the ])allor of death on his 
cheek. His hand dropped by his side, and he slowly inclined over 
the arm of his chair. I spoke to a member, "Look to Mr. Adams, 
lie is fallino: in his chair." He rushed toward him. A call for 
help arrested the attention of the House. It became silent as the 
grave. The aged patriot was borne to the Speaker's room, never 
to leave it alive. Sage of Quincy ! He liad fought a good fight for 
the liberty of the Press, Freedom of Speech and the Right of Pe- 
tition. He fell in the plenitude of his fame, on the theater of his 
grandest achievements, with the roar of battle sounding in his val- 
iant ear. 

THE BUFFALO CONVENTION. 

The nomination of Gen. Cass for the Presidency by the Demo- 
crats, and Gen. Taylor, by the Whigs, in 1848, led to the Buffalo 
Convention. The Barnburners had opposed Cass in vain at the 
Baltimore Convention. They had made the Monumental City luiid 
with their wrath, frightening the delegates from the back States al- 
most out of their wits. They adjourned the conflict to the Queen 
City of the Lakes. I was at Buffalo, and was one of the Cuiiiniiitee 
that drafted its Free Soil Platform. It was a motley assein'oly. In- 
spired by loves and by hates, it was a curious mixture of incongru- 
ous elements. Old pro-slaverj' Democrats were there to avenge the 
the wrongs of Martin Yan Buren. Free soil Democrats were there 
to punish tlie assassins of Silas Wright, Pro slavery Whigs were 
there ti> strike down Gen. Tavlor because he had dethroned tlieir 
idol, Henry Clay, in the Philadelphia Convention. Anti-Slavery 
Whigs were there, breathing the spirit of John Quincy Adams. 
Abolitionists of all shades of opinion were present, from the darkest 
type to those of a milder Inu^ wlio shai'cd the views of Salmon P. 
Chase. An innnense tent was raised on the Court House Square 
for the accommodation of the Convention, where the crowds were 



35 

regaled with speeches and music. Its real business was condncted 
by delegates locked in a clmrch close at hand. There was a rooted 
prejudice against Mr. Van Bnren among the AVhigs and Abolition- 
ists. But the adroit eloquence of his former law partner, Benjamin 
r. Butler, ot Albany, and an admirable Free-Soil letter from the 
Sage of Linden wald himself, carried him through, and he was nom- 
inated for President, with Charles Francis Adams for Vice Presi- 
dent. The Democratic revolt in New York gave its 36 electoral 
votes to Taylor and Fillmore, which was exactly their majority in 
the Union. The breach in the New York Democracy has never 
been completely healed. 

IN THE NEW YORK SENATE. 

I was elected to the State Semite and took my seat, in 1S50. I 
was there during the agitation over the compromise measures grow- 
ing out of the Mexican war. A great variety of i-esolutions were 
introduced in the Legislature on those questions. While this 
subject was before the Senate, I drew a vei-y radical resolution by way 
of amendment to a series then pending. It elicited warm debate, 
and was put to test on a call ot the yeas and nays. It was ado])ted. 
Every Whig and every Democrat who voted for this amendment 
subsquuently became a member of the Republican party. 

THE CANAL BILL. 

The Whigs in the Legislature at the session of 1851, ii.troduced 
an unprccented bill, which appropriated many millions of money for 
the alleged purpose of erdarging the canals. The Barnburners 
deemed it unconstitutional, as did Democrats o-euerallv. The bill 
had passed the Assembly, where the Whigs had a large major- 
ity. To prevent the presence of the three-tifths quorum necessary 
to carry it in the Senate, it was thought best that twelve Senators 
should resort to the desperate expedient of resigning their offices. 
The consequence was that the bill fell in the Senate. 

And now came the tug of war. Elections were ordered on short 
notice to fill the twelve vacancies, and an extra session of the Leg- 
islature was called for June. The tide ran against the resio-nino; 
Senators, all of whom stood for reelection. Six, whose districts 
were far away from the canals, were successful. The other six who 
lived in canal districts, were overwhelmed, with one exception. 
There were three canals, stretchini;: fortv-two miles in the three coun- 
ties of my district. There were twelve stump speakers in the field 
against me, marshalled by Gerrit Smith. At the close of the fight 



36 

I was reelected by five majoi'ity. The bill was passed at the extra 
session. I opposed it step by ste}). The Judiciary vindicated the 
soundness of the doctrines of the resi£:ninn: Senators, The Court of 
Appeals adjudged tlie law to be unconstitutional, null and void. 

MEMBERS AND MEASURES IN THE 

SENATE. 

During- my membership the Presidents of the Senate were Lieu- 
tenant Governors Patterson and Church. In the front rank of my 
colleagues stood Edwin D. Morgan, afterward Governor and U. S, 
Senator; James M, Cook, subsequently' Comptroller and Bank Su- 
perintendent; Thomas B. Carrol who became a Canal Appraiser; 
George Geddes, the accomplislicd Civil Engineer; AVilliam A. Dart, 
U. S. Dist]-ict Attorney and Consul General to Canada; George 
B. Babcock, Charles A. Mann, Clarkson Crolius^ James W. Beek- 
man, and Dr. Brandretli of medical fame. 

Among the many important measures adopted were the general 
rail road law, the general school law, and a complete revision of 
the then xcvy defective code of procedure. One ot our stormiest 
conflicts was on tlic choice ot a Senator in Congress to succeed Dan- 
iel S. Dickinson. After two trials, Hamilton Fish was elected and 
became the coUcai-'ue of Mr. Seward. I was not a candidate for re- 
nomination to the Senate. I could n..t afford to be a meniljcr. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

The Pierce administration repealed the Missouri Compi'omise. 
This daring, this insane measure precipitated the doom of slavery. 
The Bepublican party was the legitimate outcome. I helped to or- 
ganize it in the State of New York at Syracuse in 1855. 1 was a mem- 
ber of the National Convention at Philadelphia in 1856, which nom- 
inated Fremont and Dayton. I delivered numerous addresses in 
both those exciting campaigns. 

The feeble cause I had esi^oused at Cincinnati in 1832, now rested 
on the broad shoulders of a strong party, Avhich was marching on to 
victory. 

AN EXPLANATION. 

If 1 were' writing a history of the Anti-Slavery cause, I should 
speak particularly of the invaluable services of associates in the 
great struggle, many of whom encountered persecution, while some 
suffered the pains of death. But I am merely recalling a i'ew per- 



37 

soiial experiences in the conflict, and to make room for more impor- 
tant matter shall omit any special reference to my own labors for 
emancipation from the time of the formation of the Republican 
party clown to the adoption of the lotli Amendment of the Consti- 
tution, 

EUROPEAN RAMBLES. 

Before sailing for Europe I was united in marriage, on May first, 
1840, with Elizabeth Cady, ot Johnstown, daughter of Daniel Cady, 
then one of the leaders of the New York Bar. 

In the letters to the iT. Y. American I omitted many things 
worthy of notice, and I will now pick up a few dropped threads. 
The letters show that I did not attend solely to Anti-Slavery mat- 
ters, lout for six months was a tourist, and travelled the beaten 
track. 

APPROACHES TO LONDON. 

On June 3rd, 1840, we first approached London from the west, 
striking the Thames at Rcadinrr. To see old Father Thames had 
been my day dream in life's morning march when my bosom was 
young. And here it dazzled my eyes I As we nearcd the metrop- 
olis we discovered a lofty object that floated on a sea of dingy 
smoke. It was the dome of St. PauFs, lifting its gilded cross high 
above the dark canopy that hovers over Loudon so much of the 
year. 

Ori returning from the continent a few weeks afterwards we had 
a night ride on a coach from Dover to London. We reached 
Shooter's Hill just as the orb ot day was breaking through a bank 
of clouds. The basin wherein the great metropolis reposes seemed 
a vast lake whose bosom was rippled by the wind. The dome of 
the cathredal loomed above the surface and o-listened in the mornino' 
sunbeams, while Highgate stood sentry over the scene on the north. 
The illusion was perfect. 

By-the-by, in November Ave saw one of London's dark days — 
a perfect specimen of its kind, I was told. It was among the most 
unique spectacles we witnessed in all Europe. 

BROUGHAM, MELBOURNE, MACAULAY 

AND RUSSELL. 

A debate on the famous Scotcii Presbyterian (question (then in a 
critical condition) was to occur in the House of Peers. I went to 



38 

tlie House in company witli a Birmingham lawyer, and asked the 
dooi'keepcr for admission to tlic gallery. He said it was full. The 
offer of a silver crown did not reverse his decision. My Birming- 
ham companion counselled a retreat. I took my card and ad- 
dressed it to Lord Brougham, writing thereon that I was a Secre- 
tary of the "World's Anti-Slavery Convenfeion from New York, and 
would be happy if he would admit me and a friend to the gallery 
to hear the pending debate. The lawyer and the doorkeeper were 
astounded at my audacitN'. "I think I know my man," was my 
response. . The card was taken in, and in a minute the tiunky re- 
turned, bowing nearly to the floor. We were ushered into the space 
allotted to the Commons when summoned to the bar of the Peers. 
We were the sole occupants. Lordly eyes were turned upon ns, 
and a buzzing bevy of Peeresses from behind a curtain craned their 
necks, wondering probably who on earth wc were. Earl Dalhousie, 
an Elder in the Scotch church, was closing a speech. Brougham 
arose. For twenty minutes the lawyer, statesman and orator whose 
name and fame were the property of mankind, rolled off sonorous 
periods on the subject under debate. He then crossed the chamber 
in front of where we were sitting, and made a bow, as much as to 
say, ''What do you think ot that?" He was perhaps the vainest 
man in England. The premier, Lord Melbourne, delivered the last 
speech. He was imposing in personal ai)pearance, elegantly 
dressed, and had the fatherly aspect which fitted him to act as a 
sort of guardian to the youthful Queen. But what an orator I As 
a speciman of elocution his speech was clumsy ajid slip-shod in the 
extreme. Pie hemmed and hawed for fifteen minutes, and the 
House then adjourned. 

At a later daj^ I entered the gallery of the Commons to hear a 
discussion concerning Canada, just then in the throes of an incipient 
rebellion. I was scarcely seated when from under the gallery there 
poured a stream of words, pitched in a monotonous key, sparkling 
with metaphors. The House had been rather thin, when instantly 
the doors began to slam, tidings having passed out that Macaulay 
was up. His address reminded me of his essays in the Edinburgh 
Review. Lord John Russell, Colonial Secretary and Whig leader 
in the Commons, closed the debate. He was a better ora*"or than 
Melbourne, but our House of Kepresentatives would have listened 
to him impatiently. However, I got used to poor public speaking 
before I left England. As orators they are far behind America. 



39 

WESTMINSTER HALL. 

1 entered the great Hall of William Rufus in Westminster, whose 
old oaken arches had witnessed the crowning of many Kings, the trial 
of Charles I., the expulsion of the Rump Parliament by Cromwell, 
and the bursts of eloquence of Bnrke and Sheridan on the arraio-n- 
ment of Warren Hastings for high crimes and misdemeanors, and I 
was spell-bound as I paced its stone floor, worn by the footsteps of 
centnries. 

I visited the apartments where the Courts were in session. There 
sat Lord Chancellor Cottenham, Chief Justice Denman, of the 
Queen's Bench, Lord Abinger, of the Exchequer, better known to 
the Bar in America as Sir James Scarlett. Of course, I was deeply 
interested in witnessing the proceedings of tribunals that gave law 
to so large a part of Christendom, and whose decisions are daily cited 
in the Courts of the United States. 

LANDMARKS. 

1 shall run through the countiy at random, merely pointing to a 
few landmarks, which stand as blazed ti-ees along the track where 
history has hewed its path. 

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 

One of the attractive places I visited in France was Rouen, the 
capitol of Normandy. It was from this renowned spot that William 
went forth in lOtjG, to conquer England. Rouen is beautifully sit- 
uated on the Seine. It was there that I first saw the river so fa- 
mous in the annals of Europe. After his stormy life was ended the 
Conqueror was buried here. A century later the ashes of Richard 
Couer de Leon were deposited under its cathedral. In 1431, Joan 
of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, was burnt at Rouen. I visited, as 
thousands do annually, the statue erected to her memory. 

On my return to England I went down to Hastings to see the har- 
bor and the pier where William anchored the 700 vessels, and landed 
the 60,000 men for the great conquest. Six miles inland is the field 
where the grim invader in October, 1066, fought the battle tliat 
placed the kingdom of Alfred the Saxon under the heel of William 
the Norman. Poor Harold, the English monarch, pierced in the 
eye by an arrow, lost his crown and his life in the struggle. Here 
the Conqueror, "of pious memory," erected Battle Abbey as a me- 
morial of the victory that gave England the Feudal system and the 
Domesday Book. The abbey is a frowning edifice, partially in ruins, 
a crumbling landmark of British history. 



40 

RUNNYMEDE. 

Oa the soutli bank ot the Tliaiues, a few miles from London, I 
saw a beautiful meadow. At the west I caught sig-ht of the towers 
of Windsor Castle, Avhlle my eyes scanned the dense smoke that 
canopied the metropolis on the east. In 1215, there transpired on 
this little meadow one of the most important events in the history 
of England. Gloomy King John came over irom Windsor to Knn- 
nymede to confer with his rebellious barons. On the 10th of June, 
at their dictation, he aflixcd the royal seal (perhaps he could not 
write his name) to Magna Charta. 

Thousands of Englishmen daily sail up and down the Thames past 
this sedgey spot without being aware that their Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was issued here GOO years ago. There is nothing strange 
in this. Crowds of Americans daily beat their suro-esao-ainst a little 
brick ediiice in Philadelphia without remembering that within its 
walls on July 4th, 177G, a few feeble colonies issued the immortal 
document that hurled defiance (to quote AVebster) at a power whose 
morning drum-beat, starting with the sun and keeping company 
with the hours, encircled the earth with one continuous and un- 
broken strain of the martial airs of England. 

RICHARD III. AND HENRY VII. 

The wars of the Koses changed the line of descent of the Eiiirlish 
crown from tlie Plantagenets to the Tudors. In 14S5, the White 
Rose of York was blasted by the lied Rose of Lancaster on Bos- 
worth Field. I had seen the battle fought so often on the stage that, 
after viewing the old school house at Leicester wherein Di-. Sam. 
Johnson was once usher, I rode a little way out of town to the ])laiu 
where crook-backed Richard was slain and the coronet placed on 
the brow of Henry YII. by Lord Stanley. The guide was loqua- 
cious as became his calling. I swallowed his stories without a grim- 
ace till he told me my feet at that moment i-ested on the very sod 
where Richai'd cried aloud, "A horse I Ahorse! My kingdom 
for a horse I" Tlien I was tempted to bolt the track, because no his- 
torian informs us that, "W^hite Surrey" had been killed or had Hed ; 
and while that renowned steed lived what need had Richard of 
another liorse? 

However, I early learned to accept such tales as true, and get as 
much enjoyment out of the delusion as ])ossible. When, for ex- 
ample, they exhibited tlie b](n-k in the Tower of London whereon 
L;idy Jane (ii'ay is said to lia\ebeen i)eheaded, I admitted that some 



41 

sharp instrument liatl made a cleft in it. They pointed me to the 
school room at ilnntingdon where Cromwell learned his A. B. Cs, 
and to the identical wooden desk at which he sat. I conceded that 
the latter had been thoroughly whittled, and the onl}- wonder was 
that it had stood the jack-knives so well for 250 years. When gaz- 
ing at certain suspicious looking scratches on the window-sill of 
Whitehall, and on being assured that these were the prints of the spikes 
that helped to hold up the scaffold whereon Charles I. was put to 
death in 1G49, I did not for a moment dispute that that unfortunate 
monarch lost his head in that vicinity about that time. So when in 
the Highlands of Scotland an ancient dame charged only half a 
crown for letting me handle Kob Ro^^'s alleged musket, I drew an 
approving smile from the old crone by the remark that the barrel 
was uncommonly long and the lock very rusty. 

Is not this the best way to deal with this kind of so-called infor- 
mation ? Tourists must not be too critical. 

CROMWELL. 

Oliver Cromwell prepared the way for the expulsion of the Stu- 
arts. I walked through the brick house and over the fair fields 
where the Puritan spent his youth. The mansion resembled a 
large Pennsylvania farm house of t\ie higher class. Here, in ma- 
ture years, he trained his Ironsides who marched to the tune of Old 
Hundred, but in many an encounter met undismayed the legions ot 
the Court and hierarchy, oft sweeping them like cliaft' before the 
wind. His well planned battle at Kaseby ruined Charles. I trav- 
ersed the hillock over which the lion-hearted general, sword in hand, 
led the decisive charge. AVlien he became Protector of the Com- 
monwealth he took up the despised name of Kingless England and 
bore it aloft on the eagle wings ot a far-sighted policy and made it 
respected and feared at every Court in Europe, He was a great 
soldier and a greater ruler, and stood among the foremost men of his 
time. 

LORD JEFFREYS AND THE BLOODY 

ASSIZES. 

I skirted the fatal field of Sedgenioor in Wiltshire where the un- 
fortunate followers of Monmouth sought to dethrone James II., be- 
fore his hour had fully come. I sat in the old Court House at 
Taunton, where the monster Jeffreys held the bloody assizes which 
condemned to death 326 men, women and boys for participating in 
this uprising, and sent 841 victims into perpetual slavery. 



42 

The vials of retribution were poured upon tlic head of this infa- 
mous Judge wlien his master tell. He cowered in a taproom at 
Greenwich, disguised as a portei-, and on discovery begged to be 
lodged in the Tower as a protection h-om the populace who threat- 
ened to tear him limb from limb. There he howled like a maniac, 
as if haunted by the ghosts of those whom he condemned to the gal 
lows and the irallevs at Taunton, 

WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 

Torbay is one of the most beautiful ocean inlets my eyes ever be- 
held. It lies in the lap of luxuriant Devonshire. I saw it in the 
high noon of summer oxuberauce. In this bay, on the 5th of Ko- 
vember. 1G8S, William, the stadtholderof Holland, anchored the great 
fleet and landed the "-rand armv he broui^ht over to drive James 
from the British throne. The credulous Kino; was slow to believe 
that his nephew had been invited to invade England by eminent 
leadei's of public opinion. It was an easier conquest than that of 
the other William who landed at Hastings 622 years before. James 
fled to France. In July, 1090, he made a last feeble rally for his 
throne at the battle of the Boyne. In early youth, I read a picto- 
rial history of England. Among its illustrations was a vivid sketch 
of William crossing the Boyne and shouting to his soldiers, "To 
glory ! My lads, to glory !" Of course I saw the Boyne and sat 
down on the northern bank where William was wounded, and fan- 
cied I saw the cowardl}' James fleeing over the hills on the opposite 
side, the first one to run away. William III. was the greatest mon- 
arch who ever sat on the British throne. 

SCOTLAND. 

We must give England a rest and repair to Scotland. I went 
the grand rounds ot the Lowlands and the Highlands, and sketched 
outlines ot my tour in letters to the iV. Y. American. Bepetitions 
will be avoided. 

DR. CHALMERS. 

Our large Anti-Slavery ]\[eeting in the Scotch cai)ital was pre- 
sided over by the manager of the Ediiihurgh Review. I listened 
to a sermon by Dr. Thomas Chalmers, then in the fulhiess of his 
})rime, and the leader in the nun-cinrnt that ultimated in the dis- 
ruption of the church ol John Knox. His discourse was a chain of 
close reasoning, glittering with imagery and glowing with fervor, 
lis drawback to me was the strong Scotch accent ot the orator. His 



43 

delivery lacked the mellow cadence of Dr. Wardlaw of Glasgow who, 
to Dr. Chalmers, was as Apollos to Paul. 

MACBETH. 

While stopping at Perth I took a chaise and went out to Birnam 
wood, and from thence a dozen miles to the hill ot Dunsinnan. I 
cut two memorial canes at Birnam and took them over to Dunsin- 
nan, and could then affirm that Biiiiam wood had come to Dun- 
sinnan. The little grove at Birnam rustled in the breeze ot a crisp 
but bright autumn day. The hill of Dunsinnan showed the ruins 
of the rough ramparts said to have been built by Macbeth in the 
year 105G. Why dispute the story told by Shakespeare? Does it 
not shed a brilliant light on a dark period in the annals of Scotland ? 
Who would give up King Duncan and Lady Macbeth and the blood- 
stained da£::2;ers and the witches around the cauldron on the heath 
and the ghost of Bampio at the royal baiujuet, to please all the his- 
torians that Scotland ever saw ? 

Let us roll up the curtain and stand by the bai'd of Avon, and 
lloUinshed ? 

BANNOCKBURN. 

I walked . from Sterling to Bannockburn, for here was an undis- 
puted landmai-k in the romantic annals of Scotland. Bruce encoun- 
tered Edward IL of England in the summer of 1314, and routed 
him. On this well preserved grassy meadow stood the rock where 
Bruce set up his staiulard, and there lay the marsh in which Ed- 
ward's soldiers were mired. B:irns has set the battle to music. 
When I was there a minstrel sung tin; familiar ballad, 

'Scots who ha' with Wallace bled, 
Scots whom Bruce has often led," 

accompanying his nulodious voice with a harp. The intervening 
centuries melt away before the imagination in such sconces. 

THE LAST OF THE STUARTS. 

Charles Edward made a gallant stand at Preston Pans in 1745, 
just below Edinburgh, for the crown of his grandfather. His Scotch 
claymores ''hewed deep theii- gory way" into the ranks of the Eng- 
lish, and they fled But the tide turned against the young prince 
the next year. On a bleak ridge near Inverm-ss he fought the fital 
battle (.f CuUoden in April, 1740. In spite of his winning numners 
and indomitable courage, his cause was ruined. Having again and 
again declaimed at school Campbell's "Lochiel ! Lochiei ! be- 



44 

ware of the day," I saw Culloden, and almost wished that the chiv- 
alrous Charles Edward had fared better. 

At Playford Hall, the residence of Thomas Clarkson, the conver- 
sation turned upon the Stuarts. ''The four Stuarts," said the com- 
panion of Granville Sharpe and William Wilbcrforce, "were a bad 
lot." Then, as if in parenthesis, ho added, "And so were the four 
Georges." Time will never reverse this verdict. 

DANIEL O'CONNELL. 

When in London Mr. O'Connell invited me to Dublin, and laugh- 
ingl}'- said he would induct me into the mj'steries of his agitation 
for the repeal of the union between England and Ireland. His 
son John, then in the Commons, presided at our Anti-Slavery 
assembly in Dublin. The father gave nie a special ticket to a Re- 
peal meeting. He delivered an elaborate address of two hours' 
length intended, as he said, to infoim me of the ends he had in view. 

Mr. O'Connell was foremost among the eloquent public speakers 
of his era. John liandolph said he was the greatest orator he heard 
in Europe. He won the title of ''Liberator of Ireland." In the 
address I have referred to lie said that no political reform was worth 
the shedding of one drop of human blood. His repeal agitation 
brought him to prison, and came to naught. Though something of 
a demagogue, he was the friend of man irrespective of clime, color, 
creed or condition. Wherever humanity sank under the blow of 
the tyrant, there were found the genial heart and clarion voice 
of Daniel O'Connell sympathizing with the fallen and rebuking the 
oppressor. 

Ireland is supposed to desire national independence. Within the 
lasthalf century it has tried Daniel O'Connell and agitation. Smith 
O'Brien and bloodshed, Charles Pariiell and threatening, O'Dono- 
van Rossa and dynamite, but the union with England is still unre- 
pealed. 

OLD SARUM. 

This once celebrated rotten borough was the lau^hinir stock of the 
Whigs in the day of the first reform bill of 1832. I visited its site, 
getting glimpses of Salisbury IMaiii, a locality which had nestled in 
iny memory since I read the religious tract entitled, "The Shepherd 
of Salisbury Plain." I could scarcely believe my eyes as I looked 
upon Old Sarum. For centuries j)revious to the Reform Bill it had 
sent two members to parliament, though not a soul had lived there 
since the Tudors mounted the throne. It was a mere sand hill 



45 

witliout showing even the rnins of a dwelling, though once it had a 
small population. Yet this waste, down to 1832, had as largo a 
representation in the Commons as Lancashire with its million and 
a half of people. Tlie voting at elections used to be done by the 
owner of old Sarum, who sent himself and a favorite, or two of the 
latter stripe, to parliament. 

THE CHARTISTS. 

Though the Eeform Bill ot 183^ abolished absurdities like Old 
Sarum, it left the representation in the House ot Commons in a very 
unsatisfactory state. This led to Chartism, a well-meaning but 
rather turbulent faction, whose five foundation principles were uni- 
versal suffrage, voting by ballot, equal parliamentary districts, no 
property qualification for representatives, and the payment of sala- 
ries to members. This platform will seem familiar to the ])eoplc of 
the United States, but the announcement of the Chartist Creed threw 
Eno;land into convulsions. 

I happened to speak at a Chartist meeting. The organization was 
already drifting upon the shoals of violence. I warned them against 
disorder. But in a few years they destroyed themselves and their 
party by outbreak and bloodshed. In later times, and under the 
guidance of John Bright and his associates, the cause of Free Suf- 
frage and Parliamentarv Reform has recovered some of the ground 
which the Chartists proved incompetent to occuj^y. 

I MUST HALT. 

Other scenes lise before me, but I must stop. It would be pleas- 
ant to sketch a visit to Boston, where William Brewster, my Puri- 
tan ancestor, was long imprisoned for non-conlormity ; and to the 
gloomy goal at Bedford where John Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim's 
Progress; but there is no space for them. Nor is there for descrip- 
tions of other famous places I saw, as for example, Floddon Field, 
immortalized by Scott in Marmion ; and the site of the Rye House 
whose plot sent Algernon Sydney and William Russell, to the scaf- 
fold ; and Moor Park, where William III. was wont to consult 
Temple, and where Swift captivated and ruined "Stella;" and Blen- 
heim Castle, whose stately halls saw tears of dotage flow from Mal- 
borough's eyes; and Daylesford, rebuilt by Warren Hastings, find to 
which he retreated when pursued by Burke, Fox and Sheridan in 
the great impeachment trial; and also other similar landmarks. 

I cannot even allude to the many famous spots I visited on the 
continent, though I will except two. It was in a Napoleonic year 



46 

tliat I saw France. In Paris, under tlie dome of the Hotel des In- 
valides, tliey were preparing a magnificent mausoleum for the great 
Emperor, whose remains Averc to be received from St. Helena in the 
autumn. The old soldiers on the banks of the Seine, who had 
fought under the little corporal in many battles, were aglow with 
enthusiasm at the approach of the pageant. I stopped in Julv in 
the public square of Boulogne, and noted its points of interest. Two 
weeks later the young Pretender, known afterward as Kapolodii 
III. dashed into the square with fifty armed followers, posted a pro- 
clamation on the walls and called upon the people to rise and drive 
Louis Phillippe from France. The wild adventurer was sentenced 
to the citadel of Ilam for life, but he contrived to escape from his 
grim prison in May, 184G. Other historic mile-stones dwelt in Uiy 
memory and furnished the keys wdiereby I subsequently interpreted 
the downftiU of Louis Phillii)e in 184:8, and the extinguishment of 
the Napoleonic dynasty in the Franco-German war of 1870. 

LAW— COURTS— CASES. 

I will refer to two or three law cases wherein I was engaged, 
which involved novel points. 

Li 184:-4-5 William Wilbar kept a large wholesale and retail 
liquor store in Taunton, Mass, Benjamin Williams printed a lively 
temperance newspaper in that town. Under the similitude of "A 
Dream" he published a scathing article about Wilbar's store. The 
Dream painted the establishment in the most ap])alling colors. The 
devil, fire and brimstone, liquid death and distilled damnation 
figured conspicuously in the lurid sketch. Wilbar sued Williams 
for libel, laying his damages at several thousand dollars. Williams 
retained me as his counsel. The Plaintiff was selling liquor with- 
out a license. I set up in defence that the publication was an alle- 
gory and not to be construed literally, and that so far as it confined 
its pictorials to "Wilbar's business of liquor selling he could not re- 
cover because, as he had no license, he was himself violating the 
law, and therefore had no standing in Court. The case was tried 
in the Supreme Court before Judge Hubbard and a jury. After a 
close contest of three" or four days, the Court ruled with me on the 
law, and my client got a verdict. The case was reported, and sev- 
eral thousand copies of the trial were sold. 

The next year I appeared for the defendant in a criminal jirose- 
cution ioY a similar libel, based on a "Dream," at New London, 
Conn. It bristled with difficult points, but I got a verdict for Mr. 
Cooley, my client. The case was briefly reported by him. 



47 

It is worthy of remark that I could find no reported case in this 
country or England that covered the precise ground in the contro- 
versy at Taunton and New London. 

RUFUS CHOATE AND ANOTHER CASE. 

George Daniels, a slippery shoe manufacturer, had for a year or 
more been in the habit of making notes payable to the order of Al- 
fred Daniels, his wealthy brother, and then forging Alfred's name 
on tlie back of the notes, and passing them among shoe and leather 
dealers in Boston. George absconded, leaving notes to the amount 
ot some $20,000, unpaid in the hands of his victims. I brought suit 
against Alfred Daniels in a single action on all these notes, simply 
declaring against him as endorser in the usual form. Rufus Choate 
was counsel with me from the start. The defence was conducted by 
Charles G. Loring and Benjamin R. Curtis. The latter was subse- 
quently appointed a .Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. We tried our case before Justice Wilde and a jury at Bos- 
ton. We proved that from time to time some of the notes in tlic 
suit and others just like them had been presented to Alfred Daniels 
and ho was asked if they were "all right," and that liis replies in 
substance M^ere either evasive or that the notes would probably be 
looked after when they became due. We took the ground that if 
Alfred Daniels' name was forged, and he knew it, and our cb'ents 
did not, Alfred should then and there have exposed the forgery, and 
that from liis failure to do this the jury might infer that Alfred had 
made George his agent for passing such notes. We could find no 
case in the books like the one at bar. But Judge Wilde ruled 
for us in the n^ain. It had devolved on me to put in the testimon}^ 
during the contest of four days. Mr. Choate argued the case to the 
jury with his nsual power and splendor. The jury gave the plain- 
tiffs a verdict. 

RUFUS CHOATE AND THE BOSTON 
BENCH AND BAR. 

At the time of which I am speaking the Bench and Bar at Bos- 
ton were exceptionally distinguished. Joseph Story was in the 
zenith of his fame; Judge feprague of the U. S. District Court, who 
w^on a high reputation as Senator in Congress, was his worthy asso- 
ciate. Chief Justice Shaw of the State Supreme Court was one of 
tlie ablest lawyers in New England. The leader of the Bar was of 
course Mr. Webster, But viewed in some lights, the most brilliant 
figure was Rufus Choate, He was appreciated by the four great 



48 

men just mentioned, and was tlie admiration of his junior brethren 
of the profession, who were accustomed to pack the courts to wit- 
ness liis wonderful displays of logic, learning- and eloquence. What 
spectator that beheld him on these occasions could ever forget that 
tall figure, that sallow complexion, that ])iercing dark eye, those 
black locks, which hung in curls over an expansive forehead, those 
dramatic gestures that gave point and emphasis to pungent sen- 
tences, that majestic tread, which shook the room till the windows 
shivered, that voice whose notes now swelled like a trumpet and 
anon sunk into a wail as if a gentle breeze were sighing in the tree- 
tops, and all this without the slightest affectation, and with a clear- 
ness of vision that saw the pinch of his case, and a sincerity of man- 
ner which proved that victory, and victory only was the end he kept 
steadily in view. Mr. Choate argued a case in the Supreme Court 
at Washington. A distingaished Southern Senator heard him, and 
speaking to Mr. Webster the next day he said : "I listened to your 
Mr. Choate yesterdav. He is an extraordinai'v man.-' "An extra- 
ordinary man ?" replied Webster, "Sir, he is a marvel." 

Like Edmund Burke, whom he studied and admired, Mr. Choate 
drove "a substantive and six." Judge Shaw was a man of few 
words. He looked like a rough fragment of the Feudal system. 
Short, thick, with a big head covered with coarse fi'owsly hair, 
which appeared never to have been combed, he had a habit of rest- 
ino- his elbows while in Court on the shelf before him, and holdiri'i- 
up his chin by his hands, and glaring at counsel through spectacles 
trimmed with tortoise shell instead of silver or gold. A rather strik- 
ing resemblance to a grizzly bear sitting on his haunches. But his 
head was clear as sunshine, and his rhetoric a model in style, though 
his growling voice made tlie short opinions he delivered on side 
issues during the trial of a cause seem like nectar gurgling from a 
tar barrel. The Old Chief, as he was familiarly called, had a gentle 
heart, and there was a soft place in it for Choate, of whom he was 
really proud, though apt to jerk him up with a short rein when too 
wordy. One afternoon I stepped into court when Choate was flash- 
ing his lightnings around the Chief Justice, who kept interrupting 
him. Wiilkin'' with Mr. Choate to our lodinnijs an hour later, I re- 
marked that the old chief was unusually restive and annoying du- 
ring his argument. ''Yes," said Clioate, "he is an old barbarian I" 
Then taking a few long strides, he added in the slow, solemn style, 
so familiar to his friends, "but life, liberty and propertj' are safe in 
his hands." lie was arguing un another occasion a novel point of 
law before the full bench, lie was on the crest of the wave. lie 



49 

expressed his gratification at the opportunity of discussing' this new 
question at the bar of a tribunal wliose reputation for learning and 
integrity had long since overflowed the boundaries of the Conimon- 
■weal'tli of Massachusetts and reached the nttermost limits of tlie Un- 
ion. The old Chief broke in : "Mr. Clioate, do you present that as 
a serious ai'gunient to this Conrt ?" ''Oh, no, ypur honor," replied 
Choate in his humorous style, '*it was only a rhetorical flourish," 
Tlien stooping down he said to his associate in a tone loud enough 
to be heard all around, "The Chict Justice is an nrl)anc gentleman. 
It is a pity he don't know any law." But there is no end to talcs 
of this sort about ]\[r. Cho.ite, nnH I forbear. 

Jt has been my fortune to hear many of the foi'cmost lawyers in 
this country and in Great Britain. As an advocate before a jury, 
especially in a difllcult case, I niner saw tiie superior of Rufus 
Choate. 

THE NEW YORK BENCH AND K\R. 

1 liavc always felt at home with the judges and lawyers of tlie State 
of New York, f(M' it was with tliem that I flrst began to bo ac- 
ciuaintcd nearlv si.xtv vears a<>;o. 

Tlie old Supreme Court, the Coui-t of Errors and the Court of Ap- 
peals, in the opinions pronounced by Kent, Spencei", Thompson, 
Nelson, Cowen, Sutherland, Bronson, Denio and their associates 
illuminated all branches of the law in a style worthy of the best 
efforts of Mansfleld and ]\[arslKiil. The decisions of the courts or 
New York have, from the flrst volume of Johnson downward, held 
superior raidc in the judicial tril)unals of the Union, and have been 
quoted with approbation at London, Paris and Berlin. In 1S14-, 
James Kent, the new Chancellor, took his seat in one of the small 
rooms of the ca])itol. Throwing its doors wide open, he caused the 
proceedings of the court to be regularly reported, and thus poured 
a flood of light along the track of equity jurisprudence in this conn- 
try. It would be in vain to attempt to give the names oi" the great 
lawyers of New York who have aided the bench in erecting it* ju- 
dicial system on solid foundations. The bench, of course, has been 
selected from tne bar. Besides this the profession in New York 
has furnished one Chief Justice and five Associate Justices in the 
Supreme Court of the United States, and Ave Attorney-Generals. 

JARNDYCE VS. JARNDYCE. 

After I removed from Boston to Seneca Falls, I became associated 
in the flimous suit of the Burden Company against the Corning Coin. 



50 

pany of Troy and Albany brought for an alleged violation ot the 
patent of the former by the latter for the manufacture of hook- 
headed spilses nsed lor fastening T lails to ties on raih-oad tracks. 
The case had been carried on appeal to the Supreme Court at Wash- 
ington, Avhich had given a decision in favor of the plaintiffs, and 
had issued the usual order to the Circuit Court in Kew York to 
enter final judgment for the plaintiffs, and then send it to a Master to 
take an account of tlie damages and iix the amount thereof. Law- 
vers will understand this line of proceedings, 

EX-CHANCELLOR WALWORTH. 

The case had been a long time reaching this point. Samr.el 
Stevens M'as leading counsel for the plaintiffs, and Gov. Seward tor 
the defendants. Wc tried in vain for a good while to agree upon 
some one to take the account. Judge Samuel Kelson ot the Su- 
preme Court finally referred the matter to Ex-Chancellor Walworth, 
And now commenced a series of interminable delays, which threw 
Jarndyce vs. Jarndycc of Bleak House fame quite into tlie shade. 
Burden, an ardent man, believed the proceedings would be closed 
in three months, and that as the defendants had made an enormous 
amount of spilses, the plaintiffs would be awarded at least $15u,000 
damages. Alas! l^urden had not carefully studied Jarndycc or 
Walworth. 

The case went on, it stood still, it went on, it stood still, till all 
the oriirinal counsel were frozen out of it or had died. But the 
toush Ex-Chancellor, who was drawing heavv fees as he went along, 
was like Jefferson's tederalist office-holdei's — he neither died nor re- 
siorned. And so the years rolled awav till the constantly accuuni- 
lating testimony reached thousands of folios, and being put in print 
from time to time filled many huge volumes. An incident or two 
will illustrate the mode of taking evidence. The Ex-Chancellor 
Jield the reference in his office at Saratoga, where all the witnesses 
appeared. One witness came from Troy and was sworn. At Sara- 
toga he became acquainted with a young lady, married her and was 
a father before he left the stand. Another witness was sworn. Bur- 
den saw him well under way, and then sailed for Europe to take out 
certain patents in foreign countries. He travelled extensively for 
this purpose in Great Britain and on the Continent, and after an ;d)- 
sence of several months he returneil and found the same witness still 
testifying. Other facts ot this kind might be stated, but these will 
serve as specimens. 

After wasting years on the case, Walworth decided that the plain- 



51 

tiffs were not entitled to recover any damages wliatover. An appeal 
was taken from tliis decision, and wliat thcii became ot the matter 
I do nut know. 

Walworth for nineteen years occupied tlie scat which James Kent 
had adorned. Tie was a nightmare on the jurisprudence of New 
York. One of the moving causes for the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion of 1817, was to rid tlie State of the Court of Clianccry and 
of Renben Hyde Walworth as Chanceller. 

THE NEW YORK TIMES. 

< )ii the fii'st of January, 1855, Daniel Cady resigned tVi-m ihc 
bench of the Suj^reme Court. Lieut. Gov. lleniy J. Raymond, Ed- 
itor of the New York Times, asked me to write him an article on 
the subject. I complied with his wishes. This liastily prepared 
])roduction dul}- appeared in the Times, and, much to my surprise, 
it subsequently occupied 12 pages in the appendix to tlic XVIII 
volume of Barbour's Reports of the K. Y. Supreme Court, where it 
was o:iven the rather hi<»h sounding title of 'm ])art nl* tlio History 
of the Bar and Bench of New York," 

AMERICAN JOURNALISM. 

The power ot the press in the United States has advanced with 
marvellous strides during the past halt century. This is especially 
true of the city journals. Their increased circulation in comparisoii 
with that of the country newspapers is largely due to the better fa- 
cilities they enjoy in our day for reaching rural readers. 

Journalism not only ratdcs among the learned- professions both in 
respect to the influence it exerts, and the intellectual qualifications 
necessary to succeed in it, but in some regards it leads all the others. 
To reach eminence in it requires a higher grade of talents and a 
broader and more varied literary furnishment than are wanted to 
advance to the upper seats at the bar. If our ablest lawyers were, 
without diclosing their names, to send editorial articles to the fore- 
most city journals on topics outside of their profession, an impartial 
hand would, as a general rule, consign them to the waste basket. 
Newspaper reporters of the thoroughly trained school are superior 
to lav.-yers of the middle class. They do a large business at Wash- 
ington in writing speeches for Senators and Representatives. In- 
deed, so common is this that whenever I see an exceptionally able 
set speech by an interior member of either House, I am constrained 
to exclaim, "That is a good speech; I wonder what newspaperman 
wrote it?" The enterprising correspondent who sold the same 



52 

s[)L'ech te> two Congrcssinci), cac-li of whom ck'lixcrcd it as his own, 
rather imposed on liis? victims, especially as he himself liired a third 
person to write it. There should be honor amonir such people. 

This line of remark -will now and then reply to reports from Con- 
gressional Committees and the E.xecutive departments and to Gov- 
ernors' Messages and emanations from State Legislatures. Oh, 
well, if yon don't know how to do a thing yourself, is it not best to 
invoke the aid of somebody who does? 

ALBANY NliWSFAPERS. 

In the contiicts between the Barnburners and the Hunkers the 
young Albany Atlas was the organ of the former, and the vener- 
able Alban}^ Argus of the latter. William Cassidy, the editor of 
the Atlas, was a versatile writer. He was assisted by the solid 
ai)ilities of Henry H. Van Dyck, and the graphic wit of John Van 
Buren, the titular ])rince of Linden\vakl. Edwin Croswell, who had 
long managed the Argus, was trained in the iVlbany Regency, a })o- 
litical organization that controlled the Democratic party in New 
^'ork for twentv vears. He was an editor of I'arc ii'ifts. He en- 
countered an opponent worthy of his blade in Mr. Weed of the Al- 
bany J^vening Journal. The Argus at a later day came imder the 
able direction of Mr. S, M. Shaw, now of the Cooperstown jF'nr- 
Dians Journal, and absorbed the Atlas, while the veteran George 
Dawson took the helm of the Evening Journal alter the In-illiant 
pen of Mr. Samuel Wilkeson disappeared from its columns. In the 
vicissitudes of parties from 184S to 1857, I occasionally wrote as a 
volunteer for these influential newspapers. 

THE TRIBUNE AND THE SUN. 

I have never been on the editorial stall of either the N. Y. 
Trlhunc or the N. Y. Sim. Cut "lor the past thircy years I have 
written largely for cacli in turn, and mostly in the editorial columns. 
From 1855 to ISGG I contributed regularly to the Tribune, then 
controlled by Mr. Greeley and Mr. Dana, the latter, however, retir- 
ing when he was appointed Assistant Secretary of War. I com- 
menced upon the Sun in January, 1808, when Mr. Dana became its 
editor, and have continued on that line till to-daw Mv articles in 
these two journals would lill nuiny volumes. 

The (juestions I treated in the columns of these two newspai)ers 
were of every variety. There is one topic, however, to which I will 
]iarticularly refer. It often devolved uj)on me to prepare obituai-y 
notices of distinguislied persons, especially for the xSV/?. They ex 



53 

liibit tlie defects of hasty writing, for they were produced under the 
pressure of emergencies, that would permit of no delay. I recall 
the following names of subjects selected at random : Eobert E,an- 
toul, Daniel Cady, John Brown, Salmon P. Cliase, Charles Sumner, 
Horace Greeley, Thaddeus Stevens, John A. Dix, William Cullcn 
Bryant, William Lloyd Garrison, Benjamin F. Wade, William Titt 
Fessenden, Henry Wilson, Gerrit Smith, Daniel S. Dickinson, 
AVilliam H. Seward, Sanford E. Church, Thurlow Weed, James 
Watson Webb. It gave me a melancholy pleasure to strew these 
stray flowers on the graves of my coadjutors in a great and good 
cause. 

ESPRIT DE CORPS OF JOURNALISM. 

On Sunday afternoon, December 28th, 1874, 1 called at the house 
ul Gen. John Cochrane in New York, and there learned that Gerrit 
Smith had that morning been stricken with apoplexy and was lying 
unconscious in the chamber above. That manly form was waging a 
desperate battle for life. His attending physician. Dr. Edward 
Bayard, my brother-indaw, informed me that it was rpiite possible 
he might live till the next day. Late in the evening it occurred to 
me that I would go to the Situ office and prepare an obituary notice 
of the friend whom I had known for fort_y years. 1 dictated it to a 
shorthand writer. It would fill five columns of the Sun. The hour 
of midnight arrived when it must be decided whether or not it was 
to go into print. There was no one to confer with hut the night 
editor. I finally sent the article to the composing room, where 
they prefixed to it the startling heading, "Gerrit Smith's Death Bed.'' 
On Monday morning the /Sz«^ took the town by surprise. Gen. 
Cochraue's house was filled with reporters. Mr. Smith died about 
noon. 

Toward evening I dropped into the Stcn office. The night editor 
rushed up to me, his eyes all aglow, and seizing my hand, exclaimed, 
''Mr. Stanton, that vras one of the grandest newspaper beats that 
ever happened in New York I And how fortunate it is for us that 
Mr. Smith died to-day. It would have been very embarrassing if he 
had lived.'' 

The enthusiastic outburst of the night editor may be reganied us 
the ver^" eff'ervesence of the esprit de corps of Journalism. 

WM. M. TWEED AND THE SUN. 

For several years I attended State Conventions of both parties in 
New York and superintended the reports of their doings for the Sun^ 



54 

l)y a htenugraphor, who luiudcd his business and let mine alone. It 
was easy to describe wliat Jiad transpired to-day, but it was difficult 
to foreshadow -what was to occur to-morrow. I was oft-times able 
to do the latter because I had lon<;- been personally ac(|uainted with 
the leaders of factions, and they would accept my assurance that the 
information they imparted would not be disclosed to others, though 
both sides understood that the facts were to aj^pear in the Su7i. 

I was at the Denioeralic State Convention at Syracuse in 1871. 
Tlic exposures in the N. Y. Times of tlu' frauds of the Tweed King 
had startled the country Democrats. Nevertheless the delegates 
from the city were, as usual, under the absolute control of Tweed. 
I am now to speak of the evening before the Convention organized. 
Ultimate results would depend upon whether the Tweed delegation 
on the morrow demanded seats therein. 1 knew it was the purpose 
of such Democrats as Gov. Seymour, Mr. Tilden, Chief Judge 
Church and Senator Kernan to exclude tiieiu ; and Mr. Tildeu had 
counted his followers and feared no failure. 

At midnight I met Mr. Tweed alone by appointment iu his private 
apartment where he was to explain to nic his programme for the 
morrow. The scene will long remain in my memory. The chan- 
delier in tlie large room was turned low^, and the elaborate furniture 
cast ghastly shadows on the walls. The fallen Boss, wdiom I was 
wont to sec in the fullness of his strength, was nervous and sad. In 
a voice slisrhtlv tremulous with emotion he said the credentials ot the 
Tammany delegates would not be presented. He surprised me with 
the frankness ot his utterances. I will not name those of his perse- 
cutors to whom he said he had previously paid money, for a vein ot 
bitterness tinged his conversation. 

At a later date Tweed was sacrificed to save others who were as 
guilty as himself. While in prison in the fall of 1877, he was 
drawn into detailed disclosures of the robberies ot the Ring by prom- 
ises which were not kept. Though a public plunderer he was as 
honest as some ot his prosecutors. 

OTHER STATE CONVENTIONS. 

I was at many State Conventions on the like errand with that 
just described. As, for example, at the Ke])ublican Convention of 
1871, when Conkling and Fcnton crossed swords, and the latter was 
cricvouslv wounded; and at the Democratic Convention of 187-1, 
where Samuel J. Tiklen received authority to break up the Canal 
Itinir, wdiich he afterward executed; and at tlie Democratic Con- 
vention of 187G, which placed Lucius Robinson in a station tliatcn- 



55 

abled that sour politician to disrupt and almost destroy liis party ; 
and at the Republican Convention of 1877. where Roscoe Conkling 
impaled George William Curtis on a sneer, and embalmed him in 
an epithet ; and at the Hepublican Convention of 1S79, where 
Alonzo 13. Cornell surprised his opponents by winning tlie Guber- 
natorial nomination, and afterward beat his antagonist at the polls 
by aid of a flank movement of John Ivell}'. 

If newspaper men at State Conventions want valuable informa- 
tion, tliey should know exactly where to seek it, and possess the 
confidence of those who can impart it. 

RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS AND THE 

CLERGY. 

Thougli chronologically out of place, I will here say, that in the 
heat of the assault upon tlie Southern oligarchy, when epithets were 
not always carefully eliosen by tlie assailants, the charge was made 
that the religious newspapers in the North were opposed to the Anti- 
Slavery enterprise. This was at one period the attitude of journals 
of that class in large cities, but Wcis never true of those published in 
the country districts and smaller towns. I occasionally contributed 
to the religious pres3 and I speak from ])ersonal knowledge when I 
affirm that in the later stao;es of our conflict with the baleful insti- 
tution, and especially in the civil war, it was a powerful agent in 
the work of securing the freedom of the slave and the preservation 
of the Union. 

These journals were controlled by cleigymen, and what I have 
said of their newspapers will hold good of the body of tlie ministers 
in the North from the opening of the Anti-Slavery contest to its 
close. They were unjustly accused of hostility to emancipation. 
This was true for a time in a partial sense of tliose who preached to 
the wealthy, aristocratic churches of the chief cities, but it was quite 
otherwise with those of the rural districts, and with the ministers of 
two or three of the most populous sects. I speak from personal ol)- 
servation when I assert that in the trying crisis of our struggle there 
were no firmer champions of the slave than the mass of the northern 
clergy. 

The best condensed history of American journalism is from the 
pen of Frederic Hudson, in Johnson's Cyclopedia. Mr. Hudson 
was for thirty years on the editorial staff of the JST. Y, Herald. 

PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 

My memory is full of anecdotes of public men, some of which may 



56 

be worth relatini*-. I hesitate about nnsealinii- the fountain, for if 
the stream is left to regulate itself, it may ran too lonu'. We must 
nuike selections, and those perhaps not always the best. There will 
1)0 one redeeminij; feature in tlie ]ierrormance ; the wi-it(!i' will try 
not to be the hero of his own stories. 

DANIEL WEBSTER AND THE "CON- 
SCIENCIi WHIGS." 

'J'hi? ^\'hiLl■ State Convention of Massachusetts im^t in the fall of 
1S4-C, at Fanenil Hall. It was during the Mexican war. The Whig 
party in that State had long been encumbered with the Presidential 
aspirations of Mr. Webster. An element known as "Conscience 
Wliio"s" elected several delegates to the Convention, among whom 
were Stephen C. Philli[).=, Horace Mann and Charles Francis Adams, 
all good debaters and full of courage. They offered resolutions 
about the war and slavery that did not run In tlie Websterian 
grooves. In the afternoon the discussion waxed warm, and the re- 
volting faction, (the counterpart of the New York I>arnl)urners,) 
were irettino; the best of it in their encounter with the Conservatives. 
Charles Francis Adams was on the platform throwing out short, 
])ungent sentences that flew like arrows through the IfalL I was n 
close observer of the scene from the gallery which looked down upon 
the rostrum, l)Ut had not noticed that two prominent Whig leadei-s 
had left half an liour before. The Convention sat with its back to 
the great door of the Hall, around M'hich was a crowd of spectators. 
Whih; Adams was speaking a clapping of hands suddenly broke out 
near the door, and instantly there emei'ged from tlic excited throng 
the inij)osing foi'm of Webster leaning on the arms of Abl)ott Law- 
rence and Ilobert C. Winthi-oj). A shout ot "Webster I'' went up 
tVom the floor and the galleries, and three cheers boundeil to the 
roof. Tlie two messengers fouiul the great expounder (so it wasiv- 
l)orted) at dinner. His checik was a little flushed, l)Ut they had 
taken him i'roni the festive board in time. Adams subsided and 
Webster ascended the i)latlbrm. His first sentence was, 'T like to 
meet tlie AVhigs of Massachusetts in State Convention assemble<l, 
because tlieir iiroceedini^s alwavs breathe the si)iritof Ijibcrtv." He 
liesifated a second or two before pronouncing the word "Liberty," 
but wiien it came out it seemed to weigh ten pounds. It was a shot 
right i)etMeen wind and water. He spoke briefly, closing sultstau- 
tiallv as follows: "In the troubled niiiht that surrounds us I see no 
light by which to guide our course except in the united action of the 
unite(l Whig party of the Cnited States." 



The resolutions of the Conscience Whigs were hiid on the table ; 
but in due time the recoil came, and in six years later Daniel Web- 
ster turned his face to the wall at Marshfield and died because lie 
could not obtain even a nomination to the Presidency, while these 
Whigs marched onward with the grand procession that ultimately 
saved the Union and destroyed Slavery. 

CRITTENDEN ON CLAY AND WEBSTER. 

A dozen years or more after this event in Faneuil Hall I happened 
to be one of a dinner j^arty in Washington where John J. Critten- 
den and Thomas Corwin were the shinino; lio-hts. The conversation 
turned on Clay and Webster, both of whom were then in their 
graves. Mr. Crittenden said, "We all (i. e. the Clay Whigs) de- 
sired to see Clay and Webster elected to the Presidency, and we felt 
that to accomplish this object it was necessary that Mr. Clay should 
come first, but we were never able to make ]\Ir. Webster and his 
personal friends see this, and therefore neither of them won tlie 
j^rize." The following anecdote was vouched for by competent au- 
thority. In the stormy days of John Tyler while Mr. Webster was 
liis Secretary of State, and Kufus Choate was in the Senate, and Con- 
gress was in extra session in the fall of 1841, the question of charter- 
ing a United States Bank was shaking the country. Mr. Clay, as 
Chairman of the Finance Committee in the Senate was pressing tlig 
measure, and Tyler was resisting it. A conference of leading Whig- 
Senators was held. Clay, with lofty mien, was for waging relentless 
war on the accidental President, who had stepped into the White 
House ov^er the dead body of Gen. Harrison. Choate again and 
aofain told what Webster thous'lit ought to be done. Clav was 
restive and exclaimed, "Who cares a damn about what Webster 
thinks." In 1S44, Clay was the Whig candidate for President. 
The tariff and the annexation of Texas, wherein he had conspicu- 
oiisly figured, were the leading issues of the canvass. On a mem- 
orable occasion in the campaign Webster made an elaborate speech, 
but never once mentioned Clav's name. It must have severely 
taxed his ingenuity to avoid it. 

These probably are fair illustrations of the relations in which 
these eminent statesmen stood toward each other during the last ten 
years of their lives. 

RIVALRIES OF POLITICAL LEADERS. 

Eivalries of the type displayed by Clay and Webster have been 
common among leaders of parties, and haye often torn them in pieces; 



as for instance, tliose of Jackson and Calhoun; Yan Buren and Cass; 
Benton and Atchinson ; Marcj and Wright ; Buchanan and Dick- 
inson ; Ritchie and Bhiir ; Cass and Doughis ; John Van Buren and 
Seymour; Seward and Chase: Weed and Greelev; Wade and Chase ; 
Greeley and Raymond; Dix and Tildcn; Conkling and Fenton ; 
Hendricks and McDonald; Cameron and Grow; Thunnan and 
Payne ; Blaine and Conkling, 

The glass shows many more. Let no one complain that his name 
is omitted. If all were included tlie line would stretch out till the 
crack of doom. 

JOHN VAN BUREN. 

I shall not try to paint a portrait of the brilliant Barnburner. 
There could hardly be a wider contrast between two men than the 
space that divided the Sage of Lindenwald from Prince John. In 
one particular, however, they were alike. Each had that personal 
ma2:nctism that binds followers to leaders with hooks of steel. The 
fatlicr was grave, urbane, wary, a safe counsellor, and accustomed 
to an aro-umentative and deliberate method of address that befitted 
the Bar and the Senate. Few .knew how able a lawyer the elder 
Van Buren was. The son was enthusiastic, frank, bold, and given 
to wit, repartee, and a style of oratory admirably adapted to sway- 
ing popular assemblies. The younger Yan Buren, too, was a sound 
lawyer. Some of his admirers were wont to tell him that he made 
a mistake in not aiding to lay the foundations of the Republican 
party, "for," said they in 185G, "if you had, you would now have 
been where Fremont is." "Wait and let us see," was the sarcastic 
response, "how Fremont turns out." AV^hen years afterward I 
heard of the sad death of mv friend I recalled the lines of Scott: 

"Fleet foot on the corrio 

Sa.!?e counsel in cumber, 
Red hand in the foray, 

How sound is thy slumber." 

BALTIMORE CONVENTION OF 1852. 

The Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1852, \vas 
a des])erate struggle for the nomination to the Presidency between 
Cass, Buchanan, Marcy and Douglas. The New York delegation 
■was divided in the pro^wrtion of twenty-three for Marcy, wliose 
leader was Horatio Sevmour, and thirteen for Cass, whose leader 
was Daniel S. Dickinson. It soon became apparent that Mr. Dick- 
inson himself was a candidate, and was looking for success to a com- 
hination between a large share of the supporters of Cass and a 



59 

smaller contingent of the friends of Bucliaiiai]. Indeed, Mr. Dick- 
inson told me so. The ballotings were many and wearisome, each 
of the aspirants doing his best to pull down his rivals. 

At the close of the first day I was passing tliroiigli the hall of 
Barnum's Hotel when to my surprise 1 was invited by Dickinson to 
enter a room where the Virginia delegation (which thus tar had 
voted for Buchanan) was in consultation. After an introduction 
and a statement that I was a Barnburner, the Chairman asked me 
whether if Mr. Dickinson were to receive the nomination, he conld 
carry New York? Never can I forget the anxious look of Dickin- 
son as they waited for the answer. I promptly i-eplied that Mr. 
Dickinson, and Gov. Marcy, and Mr. Douglas, and any other man 
whom the Convention nominated, would receive the electoral vote 
of New York. I then retired from this very unexpected inrerview, 
Dickinson followed me, thanked mc, but regretted that I had men- 
tioned any other name than liis. 

The next morninu' Yiro-inia voted for Dickinson, I then .saw 
what the interview of the previous day meant. Dickinson rose, 
made a short speed), thanked Virginia and begL;,-ed its delegation to 
support Gen. Cass. This was the keynotci for the combination on 
Dickinson. He asked me if I thought Virginia would adhere to him, 
and I frankl}^ told him "no," for I had reasons for regarding its vote 
merely as a compliment. Mr. Dickinson's friends used to assert that 
he threw away the Presidency on this occasion. I happened to 
know better. He never stood for a moment where he could control 
the Virginia vote. 

On the next ballot Virginia voted for Franklin Pierce. The Con- 
vention w\as weary, and soon the stampede came, anil the New 
Hampshire brigadier was nominated. He proved to bo the worst 
investment the Democrac}' ever made. He approved the bill for 
repealing the Missouri Compromise, which afterward sent the party 
to ]"»erdition. 

The Barnburners did not weep over the defeat of Marcy, rejoiced 
at the discomfiture of Cass, and were in doubt about Pierce. The 
Convention had adopted resolutions declaring the pro-slavery Com- 
promise acts of 1850, a "finality" on that subject. On the way 
home from Baltimore a Hunker was teasing Dean Richmond by 
telling him that the proceedings were a finality on the Wilmot Pro- 
viso. "A finality on old Cass,'' was the swift response of the bluff 
Dean. Though so destitute of all literary furnishment as to be 
scarcely able to write grammatically, Mr. Richmond carried on his 



60 

broad shoulders one of tlie clearest heads in tlie ranks of the Barn- 
Imrners. 

PIERCE'S CABINET. 

Pierce was a dissembler. He oftered the New York seat in his 
cabinet to Jului A. Dix, who accepted it. It afterward turned out 
that he had written to William L. ]\Iarcy, who was then in the 
West Indies, ottering him the New York eat, and he came to Wash- 
ington in ])ursuance of his invitation and was appointed Secretary 
of State. My authority for the first of these statements Avas Gen- 
Dix : fur the latter it was Gov. Marcv. 

JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

The first time I saw Jefferson Davis was in 1848 or 9, in a short 
encounter between him and John P. Hale in the Senate on the sub- 
ject of slavery. The New Hampshire FreeSoiler was facetious. 
The Mississippi Fire-Eater was contemptuous. He called slavery a 
blessing, and Hale told him to hug it to his bosom and bless himself 
with it to his heart's content, assuring him in his jolly style that he 
should not interfere with the billing and cooing. In Alarch, 1853, when 
Pierce was framing his Cabinet Davis was at Washington, and as is 
well remembered became Secretary of War. He seemed gentle in 
speech, with a musical voice, and was instructive and agreeable in 
conversation. He was the evil genius of the Pierce administration 
un the slaverv question, whose ominous thundeiings low down in 
the horizon alreadv foreboded the rising storm. 

JEFFERSON DAVIS AND HENRY WILSON. 

As we are paying little regard to chronology, I will refer to the 
fact that Davis and Wilson served several years together on the mil- 
itary cojnmittee of the Senate. In the gloomy winter of 1860-61, 
when Davis took leave of the Senate to lead in tlie rebellion, he 
walked over to AVilson's seat, shook him cordially by the hand and 
said that he was going to lay aside the old flag for awhile, but in 
coming years and under brighter skies it might be again unfolded 
as of yore. 

Mr. Wilson wrote an elaborate book in two volumes, entitled, 
''The Rise and Fall of the Slave Power."' Though the style is heav}', 
it is a valuable storehouse of facts. Of course, he gathered iiis ma- 
terials as others do. He levied contributions among his friends. 
He assessed me to the amount of 150 foolscap pages, which he 
wrought into the book in his own way. In coming years when some 



61 

Macaulay shall compose a history of this great epoch, he will liiid 
Wilson's work a rich mine from which to draw materials, 

SEWARD AND CONKLING. 

Mr. Seward represented New York iu the Senate in a grand and 
memorable era. He rose to the level of his responsibilities, and 
was courageous, sagacious, sincere and earnest. He led a forlorn 
hope against tormidable foes over which the cause he championed 
Unallv triumphed. He was ffrave in arixument and diirnified in de- 
meaner, and though rhetorical and even ornate in style, he never 
indulged in those flashy flippances that sometimes succeed in palm- 
ing themselves oft as wit, but which legitimate wit repudiates as a 
bastard progeny. 

In 1858, Roscoe Conkling was the Kepublican candidate fi)r Con- 
gress in Oneida. Mr. O. B. Matteson, who had ])reviously repre- 
sented this district, was zealously opposing him. Matteson had long 
been a personal friend of Mr. Seward. Hard pressed, Mr. Conk- 
ling sent for Mr. Seward and myself to address a county meeting at 
Eouie. Mr, Seward w^as summoned to counteract the effect of Mat- 
teson's hostility. Wrapped in a blue broadcloth cloak with elegant 
trimmings, Conkling surveyed the large audience with anxious eye. 
I spoke first, eulogizing Seward and Conkling. The Senator com- 
menced his address with a hearty encomium upon Matteson by way 
of preface to the matter in hand. He then spoke generally in sup- 
port of the Kepublican cause and eloquently commended his young 
friend Conkling to the voters of Oneida. 

The next morning I went to Utica, and was amused to see that 
the only notice taken of- the Rome meeting by the general Press, 
was a nearly verbatim report of Mr. Seward's eulogiun\ of Mr. Mat- 
teson. This, of course, would go the grand rounds of the newspa- 
pers in the State. I met Mr. Conkling. My acquaintance with the 
English language is not sufficiently intimate to enable me to des- 
cribe how angry he was. 

Mr. Conkling was elected. Then commenced those twenty years 
of service in the House and Senate which have left their lustrous 
mark on the records of Conorress. 

AN EXPLANATION. 

From what follows, it will appear that I was frequently in Wash- 
ington during Buchanan's administration. This was due to thefjict 
that I was employed there in taking a huge mass of testimony in a 



62 

law-suit. However, my clients were ultimately compensated for 
time and trouble by a recovery of nearly $80,000. 

SEWARD, FREMONT, AND WEED. 

Nobody knew better than Mr. Seward that it" he had been the 
candidate for the Presidency in 1856, he would have received the 
same vote that Mr. Fremont did, and that his nomination in 18G0, 
would liave inevitably followed, and he would have entered the 
White House instead of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Seward believed he 
had been deserted in 185G, (if not betrayed) for Fremont, whom, in 
his Rome speech, lie called "a myth.'" 

At the close of the Fremont campaign some money remained in 
the treasury of the National Committee. William M. Cliace, the 
Secretary, one of my old Anti-Slavery associates, favored its expen- 
diture on the famous "Helper Book." Edwin D. Morgan, the 
Chairman would consent to this, if Mr. Weed advised it. Being at 
Washington in the winter of 1857- 8 on law business, I met Mr. 
Chace who had come there for tlie rather (pieer purpose of request- 
ing Mr, ScM-ard to request Mr. Weed to request Mr. Morgan to adopt 
Chace's plan for the disposal ot this money. Cliace not knowing 
Mr. Seward personally, I went one evening to his house to intro- 
duce him. Tiie Governor was alone M'ith his after dinner cigai*. 
Chace explained liis case to his attentive listener, I sitting near at 
hand reading a newspaper. The Governor pulled out a cloud of 
smoke and began to talk in that deliberate style so familiar to his 
friends. "Mr. Chace, I understand you want me to speak to Mr. 
Weed and request him to advise Mr. Morgan to make a certain dis- 
position of the funds in question ?'' Mr. Chace bowed. "Mr. Chace," 
resumed the Governor, "Mr. Weed is a very peculiar man. He is 
a very secretive man. He is an unfathomable man. He thinks I 
am always driving everything to the devil. But throughout my 
public life he has told me to do this or that particular thing, and I 
have done it. He has told me not to do that and I have refrained 
from doing it. Whether in all this he was cheating me or cheating 
somebody else, (tor I take it for granted he is always cheating some- 
body,) I don't know." He then suggested to Mr. Chace to go to 
Senator Simon Cameron and tell him he had sent him, and take 
his advice in the matter of the funds. Some Congressmen dropped 
in and Chace and 1 shook hands with Mr. Seward and left. We 
did not speak for a block or two. My Rhode Island coadjutor then 
jerked my arm, burst into a laugh and said, "Did you ever hear any- 
thing equal to that ?" 



63 

SEWARD AND GREELEY. 

I was at Mr. Seward's in Auburn. The conversation ran on pub- 
lic affairs and public men. He remarked that it w^as a lonoi; time 
before he fathomed one prominent character in New York. This 
was Horace Greeley. He said he had supposed Greeley was doino- 
his work from philanthropic motives, and liad no desire for office ; 
but subsequently he found he was mistaken, and that he was very 
eager to hold office. I replied in rather a careless tone, "Governor, 
do you not think it would have been better for you it you ha'd let him 
have office?" Mr. Seward looked at me intently, and then slowly 
responded, "I dont know but it would." I was not aware how 
point-blank a shot I had tired, for I did not then know ot the ex- 
istence of the letter of November lllh, 1854-, addressed by Greeley 
to Seward, dissolving the old political firm of "Seward, Weed and 
Greeley," by the withdrawal of the junior partner. Greeley's op- 
position to Seward's nomination to the Presidency in 18G0, brought 
this unique epistle out of the secret archives of Mr. Seward. It is 
printed in Mr. Greeley's "Recollections ot a Busy Life," and will 
repay perusal by students of fjillen hunum nature. 

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 

Rising from obscurity and poverty, Stephen A. Douglas, without 
adventitious aids, advanced by sheer force of will and perseverance 
to eminent leadership in tlie Democratic party. He had little 
learning, but was endowed with rare oratorical gifts, while his buoy- 
ant spirits made him popular with the multitude. He was a native 
born Tribune of the people. A little story will illustrate his jovial 
manner. Beverly Tucker was sitting on his knee with Douglas' 
arm around him. "Bev," said he, "when I get to be President 
what shall I do tor you ?" "Doug.," replied Tucker, "when you get 
to be President, all I shall ask of you is to take me on your knee, 
put your arm around me, and call me "Bev," 

In his contest for Senator with Mr. Lincoln in 1858, he was suc- 
cessful, but did not come to Washington in the followino; winter 
until after his re-election to the Senate by the Legislature. In his 
conflict with the "tall Sucker" of Springfield, the ''Little Giant" of 
Chicago had been driven to the utterance of opinions on the Free- 
Soil Cjuestion which were repugnant to the creed ot such Slavery 
Propogandists in the Senate as Davis, Mason, Toombs and Slidell. 

His reception in the Senate on his first appearance was a spec- 
tacle to be enjoyed. As he entered, a select crowd in the galleries 



64 

applauded. Mason, Slidell and their bitter clique scowled and did 
not recognize liiiii. When a distinguished Senator approached he 
rose from his seat and received the greeting with marked cordiality. 
The lesser lights were content with a hearty shake of the hand, he 
maintaining a sitting posture. Jefferson Davis came to his chair. 
Uouo^las rose and thev bowed and bowed, but seemed to say verv 
little. After some of the minor Republicans had paid their respects 
to the lion ot the hour, Mr. Seward crossed the aisle, Douglas rose, 
they bowed, and he then gave the leader of the opposition a seat by 
his side. Since th(^ last session the Senate had removed into its 
new chamber, where Douglas had never sat. Lest he and Seward 
should be suspected of conversing about the Illinois contest (which 
was delicate ground for Mr. Seward to tread) the latter with spec- 
tacles in hand and arm extended, was pointing out the architectural 
beauties of the new Hall, Mr. Douglas followiiig the spectacles with 
his eye, and twisting around in his chair to keep pace with their 
meanderings. 

For many days Douglas was quiet, content with his victory at 
home. The Slavery Propogandists determined to drive him out of 
the party. A string of resolutions condemnatory of his Illinois 
opinions was introduced into the Senate. The debate lasted far into 
the night. The llepublicans generally stood aloof. The attacks 
upon Douglas were rare specimens of m.alignant oratorj'. Mason and 
Slidell being particularly off'ensiv^e. Douglas and his few Demo- 
cratic coadjutors bore uj) gallantly against their assailants. Mr. 
Stuart, of Michigan, a Democratic Senator, was a strong, rough 
debater. In the evcninii; he converted the Senate Chamber into a 
threshing floor, and his tongue into a flail. lie told the Propogan- 
dists that instead of receiving the distinguished Senator from Illi- 
nois as a victor, they had treated him as if was a pickpocket, lie 
pointed to the many seats, one by one, now occupied by Republi- 
cans, which he had formerly seen fllled by Democrats. "And this,-' 
he exclaimed in stentorian tones, and shaking his fist at the antagon- 
ists ot Douglas, "is due to your detestable docirines." They 
(piailed under the flagellation ot Stuart. It gave them a foretaste 
of the \var. 

The success of the iiurtli in tlie war of the Rebellion was, strange 
to say, in part due to the author ol tlie bill that repealed the Mis- 
souri Compromise. I refer to the patriotic kttor Douglas addressed 
\n liis Democratic friends, which was appended to Mr. Lincoln's 
call for 75,000 \ (ihinteers in April, 1801. It produced an impres- 
a'um throuiih the counti'v almost as itrofound as the President's 



C5 

proclamation. It extinf^'uished the hope of the south that they were 
to receive open aid from the northern Democracy in the attempt to 
destroy the Union. Indeed, the accession to the patriotic side of 
tlie struggle at a critical juncture of four such distinguished Demo- 
crats as Gen. Cass, Mr. Dickinson, Hobert J. Walker and Mr. 
Douglas, went far to inspire confidence in the ultimate triumph of 
the Constitutional party. 

It so happened that Mr. Donglas and I left Washington in the 
same railway train in the perilous days of April, 18G1. We occu- 
])icd adjoining seats till we reached the Eelay House, where he 
turned his face toward his western home. He told me he should 
spend the spring and summer in rallying the people of Illinois to 
the support of Lincoln and the Union. Alas I on the third of the 
following June, his sun set to rise no more on earth. 

MR. CORWIN AND GOV. PENNINGTON. 

Thomas Corwiu was the prince of orators. He was elected to 
the House in 1S58. He had long before won fame throughout the 
Union. No party had an absolute majority in the House that wit- 
nessed the terrible era that ushered in the rebellion. The balance 
of power between the Republicans and Democrats in the House 
was held by a small body of northern Know-Nothings, southern 
Know-Nothings, and old line Whigs. John Sherman, on the nom- 
ination of Mr. Corwiii, became the Republican candidate for 
Speaker. The contest, commencing in December, 1859, continued 
fur eight weeks. The ballotings were interspersed with a variety 
of speeches. One morning Corwin arose. The House and galleries 
overflowed with sjiectators. His address lasted three days. His 
aim was to prove that in their efforts to prohibit by law the exten- 
sion of slavery the Republicans were a Constitutional party. It was 
one of the most wonderful speeches I ever heard. All that had 
o'one before it and all that came after it in this w^earv contest of two 
months, seemed mere chattering in comparison with an effort that 
was replete with logic, wit, humor, repartee, sarcasm, and pertinent 
references to history, and sketches of statesmen in early days who 
held the doctrines of the Wilmot Proviso ; and all the while amid 
the glitter of the lighter and gayer passages of the speech, the orator 
was carryino^ forward the heavv chain of ratiocination. 

One day there was an unusual commotion on the floor. The 
pages were running to and fro, and a hundred quivering pencils 
were keeping tally to the call of the Clerk. It was seen that all 
the Democrats and a dangerously large share of the Know-Nothings 



66 

and Old Line Whigs were voting for Mr. Smith, ot N. C, a new 
candidate. Ere the result was announced, John Sherman rose. 
"Mr. Clerk, please call my name." ''John Sherman," said the Clerk. 
"Thomas Corwin," responded Sherman. On counting the tally list 
it was found that the votes cast for Sherman and the one vote for 
Corwin, were precisely equal to the total votes given to Smitli. A 
narrow escape. 

That evening Sherman withdrew, and ex-Governor William 
Pennington of N. J. was named as the Republican candidate. 
There being no regular chaplain, it had been the custom to invite 
the Washington clergy in turn to officiate in that capacity. The 
next morning the Jewish rabbi appeared for the first time. Arrayed 
in his sacerdotal robes, he lifted his open eye3 to the ceiling and 
prayed that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would break the 
deadlock in the House and set the wheels of Congress in motion. 
Winter Davis, who had steadily voted against Sherman, was pacing 
the hall in the rear of the seats. When the Clerk called his name 
he answered in a tone that tlirilled the house, "Pennington I" The 
elegant meml)er from Baltimore had a following. After one or two 
ballots Pennington was chosen, the eight weeks contest was over, 
and the Republicans had a speaker. The House took a long breath 
and determined to have some sport. A motion to adjourn was 
voted down, and so was another and another. The new speaker 
gave the floor to everybody that asked for it till a dozen members 
were talking at once amid screams of laughter. Mr. John Coch- 
rane, a Democrat, crept up the marble steps and told Mr. Penning- 
ton that it he would recognize him he would move an adjournment, 
and he believed enou<;h Deraoci-ats would vote with him to carrv 
the motion. "Oh, no, Mr. Cochrane," said the speaker, "let her 
run.'' After it had had fun enough to digest its dinner the House 
adjourned, with probably the clumsiest i)residing otHcor that ever 
tilled the cliair. . 

WADE AND TOOMBS. 

Mr. Slidell introduced into the Senate a bill to a})propriate twenty 
or thirty millions of dollars (I forget which) for the purchase of 
Cuba. Of course, the ol)ject was to strengthen the slave power. 
When he moved to take up the bill it was antagonized by a motion 
to take up the bill for granting public lands free of cost to settlers, 
known as the Homestead bill. A debate immediately arose on the 
merits of the two measures, which ran into the night, and became 
intensely bitter toward the close. Tuombs of Georgia, whose seat 



67 

was. right beside Benjamin F. Wade's, Avas eloquently abusive. He 
shook his list at Seward, who at that meuient was standing in the 
door of a cloak-room calmly puffing a cigar, and called him a little 
demagogue. lie accused the Republicans of being atraid of the 
"lacklanders" (as he styled those who might wish to accept the 
privileges of the homestead policy) frequently thumping his desk 
by way of emphasis, and occasionally striking a blow on Wade's. 
As he took his seat half a dozen Senators sprang to their feet. Yice 
President Breekenridge could not but ijive the tloor to Wade, for 
he leaped clear from the carpet. Turning short on Toombs, he ex- 
claimed, "Afraid are we ? Afraid are we ^ I never saw anything 
or any man under God's heavens that 1 was afraid of," at the same 
time smiting Toombs' desk with his fisr, which came inconveniently 
close to the Georgian's nose. Two or three more sentences in this 
vein were hurled at him, accompanied by heavy thuds on the desk. 
Toombs rolled back his chair and said, '*! except my friend from 
Ohio from my too sweeping remark " '"Very well," resumed 
Wade, "if you wish to back out you cm gj." fie then briefly dis- 
sected Slidell's measure, c )ntra^ting it witli.t'.i^ houiestead policy, 
and exclaimed, "We accept the is^ue tendered to us, and will go to the 
people on it, viz. : "Land for th) landless yd/'o'?^? Niggers for the 
niggerless." The excited auditor}- burst into loud applause, which 
was not easily suppressed. Slidell's nrjtion was rejected, Mr. 
Douglas rubbing his hands in great glee at the discomfiture of his 
sly, sour enemy. 

It is rare that we nieel; a chirisLer thit e.nb)died so much rough 
grandeur as Benjauiln Frankliu Wade's He did not know what 
fear was, 

SCENES IN THE HOUSE. 

Durino; Buchanan's administration scenes often occurred in the 
House more dramatic and perilous than any in the Senate. I was 
present when Grow, of Pa., knocked down Keitt, of S, C., under 
circumstances that came near to involving the members, and per- 
haps the galleries, in bloodshed. It was due to the caution and 
firmness of Speaker Orr that the catastrophe was averted. At a 
later day Owen Lovejoy, of Illinois, a brother of the Alton martyr, 
while delivering a speech, unconsciously advanced step by step 
across the area in front of the (Klerk's desk. A southern member 
laid his hand on Lovejoy's shoulder, saying, "Go back to your own 
side." Instantly the area was full of members, the most of whom 
were armed. Burlingame jumped on a chair and cocked his re- 



68 

volvcr. The ominous ''click" of other weapons was heard. AVash- 
bnrne, of Illinois, clutched at the supposed hair of Barksdale, of 
Miss., and pnlled off his wig. High above the din rose the voice of 
Ivellofi'i;, of Illinois, crvino;, "My colleaij-ue shall be heard I" The 
crowd swaved to and fro, the mace of the little Serjeant-at-Arms 
dancing about on the surface till it was thrown clear out of the vor- 
tex, rccallini:: tlic scene in Westminster Ilall when Cromwell, who 
had entered to expel the Rump Parliament, was confronted with 
the mace and cried, "Take away that bauble." The frightened 
Speaker rapped, rapped, rapped, shouted order, order, order, and the 
storm finally subsided. 

Thaddeus Stevens, clearly witliin parliamentary rules, was ad- 
dressing the House in his usual ])nngent style, when Martin J. 
Crawford, of Georgia, followed by a dozen other superheated Se- 
cessionists, rushed toward him, some of them threatening to assassi- 
nate him on the spot, unless he retracted his words. The brave old 
Commoner maintained his ground, and stood l)y his words. He 
was then in his G9th year, and a cripple. Crawford was 40, and 
tall, wiry, and athletic: The assault plunged the House into a vor- 
tex of excitement. The deliberation and dignity of Stevens cowed 
Crawford and his caitiffs, who, one after another, slunk into their 
seats, while the great debater resumed his speech. The steadiness 
of nerve exhibited by Mr. Stevens probably saved the House from a 
l)loody affray. 

The subsequent career of Crawford illustrates his colossal impu- 
dence. Dnring the civil war he was a member of the Eebel Con- 
gress, and was sent by that treasonable assembly to Washington as 
one of a so-called Commission or Embassay to negotiate a treaty of 
peace between the Confederacy and the United States, on the basis 
[hat the Union was already dissolved. Could effrontry further go! 

These tumults were the skirmishes that preceded Bull Ilun, An- 
tietam, Gettysburgh and Appomattox Court House. Keitt was 
killed in battle in front of Washington, and Barksdale fell in the 
last terrible charge of Lee against Cemetery liidge at Gettysburgh, 
but Crawford preferred to practice law. 

SEWARD AND CHICAGO. , 

In IStjO, Mr. Seward made a speech in the Senate which he 
thought would remove all obstacles to his nomination to the Presi- 
dency at Chicago. He read it to me before it was delivered, and 
requested me to write a description for the N. Y. Tribune of the 



69 

scene in the Chaniber during the deliveiy, which I did. Soon a 
large edition of the speecli and the description came to Washington. 
As he handed me some copies lie said in his liveliest manner, "Here 
we go down to posterity" together." He was in bnovant spirits, 
seeming not to doubt that his nomination was assured. He would 
have felt otherwise if he had known that at that critical moment 
there were not five Republican Senators who were heartilj- in favor 
of his candidacy. Even proud men can see their inferiority to other 
men and govern themselves accordingly. But they do not like to 
be ren]inded of the fact too often and too openly. More than one 
Senator from New York has disreo-arded this truth. 

THOMAS CORWIN AND NEW ENGLAND. 

In the early spring of 1S60, State contests were pending in Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island whose results might exert a wide influ- 
ence in the next Presidential campaign. I spoke once in Connec- 
ticut and several times in Rhode Island. In the latter State a fierce 
struggle was raging for the Governorship between two rich candi- 
dates, William Sprague, Democrat, and Seth Paddleford, Republi- 
can. Each was flooding that little rotten borough with money. 
The Republicans urged me to get Mr, Corwin to come from Wash- 
ington and help them. I told them he was poor and could not af- 
ford to waste money in stump speaking. I demanded a carle 
hlanche as to the terms I was to submit to the peerless orator. They 
gave it. I saw him. In his half serious, half comic style, he pro- 
nounced me a philosopher, and started eastward; and on his return 
he remarked in the same vein, that the Yankees M^ere the most maff- 
nificent and munificent people on the lace of the globe. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

When in the House of Representatives in 1818, I saw a tall, lank, 
sallow-hued member bending over the chair of another member, 
scarcely larger than one of the pages, whose dried skin looked like 
parchment. On inquiry I learned that they were Abraham Lincoln 
and Alexander H. Stephens, both Whigs. 

In the sprmg of 1860, Mr. Lincoln came eastward. He delivered 
a wonderful speech in Cooper Institute, and went to Connecticut 
and Rhode Island, where he addressed tumultuous assemblies in 
the principal cities. His debate with Douglas, his speech in New 
York, and his trip to New England gave him the nomination to the 
Presidency. 



>-, 







SEWARD AND LINCOLN. 

Mr. Scwaid was popular among his neighbors. On tlie day when 
the Chicago Convention was to ballot for a Presidential Candidate, 
Cavuga County poured itself into Auburn. The streets were full 
and Mr, Seward's house and grounds overflowed witli his admirers. 
The trees waved their branches on the lawn as if betokening coming 
victory. Flags were ready to be raised, and a loaded cannon was 
placed at the gate whose pillars bore up two guardian lions. Ar- 
rangements had been perfected for the receipt of intelligence with 
unwonted speed Irom the scene where the battle was i)roceeding. 
At Mr. Seward's right hand, just within the porch, stood his trusty 
henchman, Christopher Morgan. The ridi r of a galloping steed 
dashed through the crowd with a telegram, and handed it to Gov. 
Seward. lie .read it and passed it to Morgan. For Seward 173 
1-2, for Lincoln 103, and for other aspirants, 189 1-3. Morgan re- 
peated it to the multitude, who cheered vehemently. Then came 
the tidings ot the second ballot : For Seward, 18^ 1-2, for Lincoln, 
181; and for others, 99 1-2. "I shall be nominated on the next 
ballot," said Seward, and the throng in the house applauded, and 
those on the lawn echoed the cheers. The next messenger trom the 
telegraph office lashed his horse into a run. The telegram read, 
"Lincoln nominated. T. ^V." Seward turnel as pale as ashes. 
The sad tidings crept through the vast concourse. The flags were 
furled, the cannon was rolled away, and Cayuga County went home 
with a clouded brow. 

Mr. Seward retired to rest at a late hour, and the night breeze in 
the tall trees sighed a requiem over the blasted hopes ot New York's 
eminent son. 

LINCOLN'S CABINET. 

After it was known that Mr. Seward was to be Secretary of State, 
great efforts were made by Vice President Hamlin, Mr. Greeley, 
Mr. Dana, Mr. Wadsworth, the elder Blair, and others of that type, 
to get Mr. Chase into the Treasury department as an offset to 
Mr. Seward. The President and Chase were on the same floor at 
Willard's Hotel. Mr. Chase had just been chosen a Senator in 
Congress. In ignorance of the President's intentions he repaired to 
the capitol and was sworn as Senator, when the message appointing 
him Secretary of the Treasury was opened in his presence. The 
case of Gideon Welles was not quite so singular. When Mr. Lin- 
coln was stumping Connecticut, Welles accompanied him through 
the State. At Washington he told me he was to go into the 



71 

Cabinet, and when asked what portfolio he was to take, said he 
was not sure, but supposed he would be Postmaster General. 

Chase proved no match for Seward in political management and 
tlie control of patronage, and was more than once reduced to humil- 
iating straits, much to his mortification and disgust. 

Gideon Welles as chief of a martial bureau in one of the greatest 
wars of modern times! Mj authority for the following incident 
was present at the Cabinet meeting where it occurred. Mr. Stanton 
the Secretary of War came in with the details of a foreshadowed 
plan for a simultaneous attack of the rebels at three points in which 
he would want a little assistance from the Navy. Stanton described 
his fii st place of attack, and said the troops would need the co-ope- 
ration of one or two gunboats. The President, addressing Welles, 
asked if they could be furnished. He wriggled around in his chair 
and said he couldn't tell but would inquire and let them know at the 
next meeting of the Cabinet. And this, in substance, was his re- 
sponse on all the three points of Stanton's programme. Putting one 
of his feet on the table, the vexed President said, "JVIr. Secretary, 
will you please tell us all you know about the Navy, and then we 
sliall know all you don't know about it." And he was at the head 
of the department for eight years! 

DOWN IN DIXIE— GEN. B. F. BUTLER. 

As already stated, I left Washington for New York in April, 
1801. I had witnessed the arrival at the capital of the first volun- 
teer troops that came to its rescue on the 19th of the month. It 
was that brave Massachusetts regiment some of whose members had 
been slain while passing through Baltimore, and all of whom, doubt- 
less, remembered that it was the anniversary of the battle of Lexing- 
ton, fouo-ht 86 years before. I found Baltimore under the control 
of a mob. A portion of them were armed with muskets, stolen 
from an arsenal. Wliile circulating among them (this was on Sun- 
day) their murderous purposes were readily perceived. The tele- 
graph wires and railroad tracks between Baltimore and Havre de 
Grace (where trains cross the Susquehanna,) had been destroyed. 
Nevertheless, somebody had obtained a copy or two of that number 
of the N. Y. Herald which declared in favor of maintaining tlie 
Union by force. The manifesto was read to a great throng, and it 
was easy to pick out the Secessionists by the fall of tlieir counten- 
ances. 

On Monday a small party of us hired at an exorbitant rate a man 



72 

to carry us to Havre de Grace. lie proved to be a deputy sheriff 
of Harford County, residing at Bel Air, who had just come to Bal- 
timore with passengers from the north. Baltimore was then a nest 
of rebels, and Maryland was on the verge of secession. The towns 
we went through were inflamed with excitement. I was on the box 
with our sheriff, who seemed to know everybody and would shout 
to the crowds "Huirah for Jeff.," at the same time punching me 
and saying, 'Til take care of my load." We stopped at Bel Air to 
dine. Our wagon stood in the street with half a dozen trunks 
marked "New York'' and so on, which loungers kept curiously in- 
specting. AVe waited a couple of hours after dinner ; the liorses 
had been stabled ; the sheriff could not be found ; the landlord, 
whom we had liberally rewarded for our dinner, was away, and 
there were no signs of preparation for our dei)arture. The Court 
Ilouse was neavat hand, and I had noticed that a tumultuous meet- 
ing was going on within, while a rough crowd hung around the 
dol)r. After a long delay the landlord appeared, a team was at- 
tached to the vehicle, and the landlord shook shook hands with us, 
saying in a significant tone, "Gentlemen, you'll And us all right the 
next time you venture down into Dixie." 

Now for the cause of our detention. The meeting at the Court 
Ilouse had been summoned to decide whether the county should go 
with the Secessionists Our arrival had raised aside issue in a 
small circle of violent men, some of whom wanted to hang us, 
while others proposed to detain us for examination. The sheriff or 
landlord interposed and we were allowed to depart. On ai-riving at 
Havre we found that Gen. Butler had been there and captured all 
the ferry boats for the transportation of Massachusetts troops to 
Washington, via. Annapolis. We hired a rowboat to take us across 
the Susciuehaima to the railway depot, which a Bennsylvania regi- 
ment was at that moment entering, the flags flying and drums beat- 
ing. Haifa dozen fellows tried to prevent our crossing the river. 
A^small scuffle ensued, and we were afloat. They tired muskets at 
lu, but the shades of evening were gathering and they missed the 
mark. I conferred with the commander of the Pennsylvania regi- 
ment, giving him the late.^t information from Baltimore and 
Washington, whither he was bound, provided he could reach there. 
Glorious Ben Butler 1 His ])rompt seizure ot the ferryboats gave 
the country a foreshadowing .-1 his stern (piality. Clearer than 
most others lie saw the end from the beginning. Baltimore never 
behaved so well as when cowering under the muzzles of his cannon. 
But Maryland was slow to take in the situation and did not come to 



73 

its senses till Gen. McOlellan shut the doors of its Legislature to pre- 
vent the State beiii"' carried out of the Union. And so was it in 
New Orleans. That turbulent city was kept in good order when 
ruled b)^ Gen. Butler's pen aisd sword. Many wise statesmen are 
still of the opinion that if the Butlerian plan had been carried out 
at the close of the war, and a few traitors like Jefferson Davis had 
been duly })i)nished fu- their crimes, genuine peace would have come 
to the country much snoner and remained with it much longer than 
it has under a policy that Has operated as a premium on disobedi- 
ence to Fedei'a! law and defiance of the National llag. 

SEWARD'S TRIP AROUND THE WORLD. 

On Mr. Seward's return in the fall of 1871, from his trip around 
the globe, Mr. 11 ugh .1. Hastings arranged a plan for my going with 
the Governoi' to Auburn, accompanied by a stenographer, to get a 
condensed report of his journey for publication in the N. Y. Sun. 
Mr. Dana and I conferred and I went up. The report filled a broad 
side of the Sun, and, as Mr Seward subsequently told me, it saved 
him much ti-ouble, for when any of his friends asked about his trip 
he immediately gave them a copy ot the newspaper. 

Of the many incidents that occurred during this journey to Au- 
burn I will relate but one. The morning after our arrival Mr. Sew- 
ard was walking in his grounds. The servant was pointing him to 
this, that and the other thing, but he kept saying, "Show me the 
bird." I did not understand what he meant. Soon we stood be- 
fore the largest eagle I ever saw, enclosed in a great cage. The 
Governor lool'ed at the eagle; the eagle looked at the Governor. 
They exchanged winks, as much as to say, "We understand each 
other." Mr. SeWard then exclaimed with some emotion, "When I 
was in Alaska they gave me that eagle, and that is all I ever got for 
my trouble in negotiating the Alaska treaty, except a great deal of 
undeserved personal abuse." 

In the Autumn of 1872, Mr. Seward died. In 1828, I had been 
a member of the Young Men's State Convention over which Mr. 
Seward presided. I now stood by his open grave. In the inter- 
vening forty-four years he had played a great part in the history of 
his country. 

THURMAN AND HAYES. 

The contest for the Governorship of Ohio in 1875, between Wil- 
liam Allen aud Rutherford B. Hayes, exhibited features of national 
importance. I spent a few weeks in the State while this extraor- 



74 

dinary campaign was in progress. Both candidates were addressing 
large audiences. Allen was impressive, sagacious, bold. Hayes was 
respectable, commonplace, feeble. Among other distinguished speak- 
ers whom I heard, were Ex-Gov. Koyes, afterward Minister to 
France, Senator McDonald, of Indiana, Judge Taft, now Minister to 
Austria, and Senator Allen G. Thurinaii. In a conversation with 
the latter at Columbus, he made a prediction which then seemed 
to me verv singular. Ue said tliat if Haves defeated Allen in the 
pending struggle, he would be the next Republican candidate for 
the Presidency. Hayes did defeat Alleti, and he was the candidate. 
The ablest man whom I met in my western tour, was Mr. Thurnian. 
It must annov eminent statesmen who aspire to l)e President, to 
see small politicians preterred before them. The Presidency is 
dwindling in importance with every passing term. Congress con- 
trols the administration of the Federal Governmeut. The leader of 
the House and the leader of the Senate exert more intiuence than 
Presidents in moulding vital measures of public polic3^ Let us 
never despair of the Republic while The People dominate the free 
institutions bequeathed to us by the fathers. 

A FULL STOP. 

As I run my eye backward over the eighty years I have been 
surveying in this narrative, it occurs to me with ])ainful suddenness 
that nearly all those about whom I have been writing, have passed 
into the spirit land. I turn over the leat, close the chapter, and 
drop the pen. 



LEAg'09 



